Author's Note: Well, I finally got another chapter of this out. Stupid college taking up all of my time. Oh well. I haven't forgotten about it anyway even though not too many read review it. I think it's my favourite of the one's I'm working on so I'm going to continue with it. If it gets read, Great! If not, at least it entertains me. J
Disclaimer: Not mine!
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"Cole is it?" a smooth, cold drawl sounded from behind the group as Peter shoved his way into the middle, looking paler than usual.
"Snape," James sneered, drawing his wand out, preparing for a fight, but Cole's hand on his arm made him pause.
He shook his head slightly, "S'alright, James. He's talking to me," he smiled turning to face the Slytherin. "Yes?"
Severus glanced at the others distastefully, not wanting to speak with the boy in front of them. "Come," he ordered walking away.
"Cole, I don't think you should," Sirius murmured, catching his sleeve as the shorter wizard began to follow the Slytherin. He wasn't afraid of Cole being attacked. It was more like he was terrified that Snape would be interested in the boy and snag him before he, himself could.
"I agree with Sirius. I don't think it's a good idea for you to be going off alone with him," James agreed, stepping in front of his twin.
Cole looked over the boy's shoulder, catching Snape waiting for him and watching the scene. He sighed, looking over at Sirius as he pulled his robe free from his grasp. "It's okay. He won't do anything to me. I promise," he reassured them, pushing gently past James and jogging over to the black haired boy waiting patiently for him.
"That isn't what I'm worried about," Padfoot muttered to himself, not taking his eyes off of Cole for a second.
Severus was pleased that the boy seemed to have some semblance of a back bone. He knew how hard it was to stand up to people like Potter and Black, especially if they were your closest friends. Not that he had ever been friends with them, but he had seen how others responded to them. So far, Cole exemplified what he believed a true Gryffindor to be. He had courage, but it wasn't the craziness that people mistook for courage. "I was expecting you to cow to their wishes," he practically sneered, wondering if he could scare the boy away, or if the boy was unbothered by him as well.
"Oh? Now what kind of guy would I be if I let my brother and his friends decide who I talked to? Hmm? Now stop sneering at me. I haven't done anything to you," he ordered with a smile, not the least bit bothered by the boy's surly attitude. He just decided that it had to be some kind of defense mechanism.
He did indeed stop sneering, but glanced over Cole's shoulder to scowl at Sirius who continued to watch them. "You have a guard dog," he informed him, his tone much lighter than it had been the first time.
Cole made a face at the comment, "that wasn't very nice. If you can't say anything nice about them, don't bring them up. I'm not going to try to make you like them or even get along with them. You can hate them all you want, but don't insult them in front of me. Got it?" he snapped, fists planted on his hips.
"Alright. Deal," he glanced back at Cole, ignoring Sirius' continued stare. "You are a true Gryffindor," he murmured allowed, making up his mind to be honest with the boy. "You aren't as awful as I thought you would be."
"Aren't as..." Cole laughed, shaking his head ruefully. "Yeah, well you aren't nearly as hard of an egg to crack as I thought you'd be. So, what are you interested in?" he asked, a grin planted on his face. Severus really wasn't all that bad. True he had a hard exterior, but if you were nice to him, he was pretty decent in his opinion. He didn't care if he hadn't known him long at all. It was rare that he was wrong about a person, but it had happened several times.
He thought about it for a moment, the answer coming quite readily to the forefront of his mind. "Potions," he answered simply, a small smile forming on his lips.
Cole blinked, grinning up at him again. "Really? I'm sorta behind in that. Think maybe you could help? I don't know what I could do in return, but I'll make sure that somehow I repay you for helping me if you do," he slightly babbled in his eagerness. James and Sirius were alright in the class, but they weren't good enough to tutor him in it. Er, at least they weren't mature enough to do so without exploding something.
Severus couldn't help but laugh as he nodded. "Alright, I'll tutor you in it. I'm sure I'll-" he cut himself off from what he had been about to say about Potter and Black, reminding himself that Cole didn't want to hear it. He had agreed to it after all. No insulting the pair, at least, not out loud while Cole was around. "I'm sure I'll get you caught up."
"Thank you so much!" Cole threw his arms around the Slytherin, catching him off guard and nearly knocking him over. Slowly arms encircled him in return as Severus relaxed and grew accustomed to the embrace.
Sirius had been shocked when the Slytherin laughed but he was seething inside as he saw Snape returning Cole's hug, his pale eyes locking with the Slytherin's over the boy's shoulder. He couldn't miss the smugness deep within the dark eyes. Snape was taunting him to start a fight and he knew it.
The two stepped apart when McGonagall announced that it was time to enter the Great Hall if they were to be seated before the first years filed in for the sorting ceremony. "I'll talk to you later, Sev. See you 'round!" he smiled, giving a small wave as he ran back over to his friends.
The scowl was quickly replaced by a smile as Cole made his way back over to him. He didn't want to ruin any chance he had with Cole by being jealous of the greasy Slytherin. He refused to say anything about it, pretending as if Cole had never stepped away from the group.
"Told you I'd be alright," he teased James, nudging him in the arm. He received a grunt in reply and decided that it was best to drop the subject. He hadn't realized that they hated Severus that badly, not that it would stop him from being friend with him. It was enough however to make him realize that he could never talk about it.
Sirius took a deep breath, making up his mind to talk to Cole later. He wasn't sure how he'd do it, but he needed to be able to settle his own nerves. Now that they were at school, he had competition.
*-*-*
It had taken him a while to figure out how to tell Cole, but he had finally thought of a way to do it. He just had to pretend that Cole was James. He could tell James anything! He talked James into helping him by keeping Remus out of the room.
"James? Can I talk to you for a minute?" he smiled, doing his best to keep his nerves from showing.
Cole looked up at him from his perch at the windowsill. He'd play along as James, up for a little bit of fun. If it was something really important, he'd tell Sirius the truth. "Sure," he grinned, moving over a bit to make room for him.
He mentally sighed in relief, glad that Cole was in a playful mood. "Great!"
"No problem," Cole turned away from the window to face him. He nearly drooled as Sirius ran a hand through his hair, mussing it slightly and causing strands to fall into his face.
"I'm in love with James," his words rushed out, slurring together slightly.
Cole squeaked in surprise, understanding that it wasn't the James he was pretending to be that Sirius was referring to.
He mistook the squeak for Cole thinking that he meant the real James, since he had never called Cole James. Sirius took a deep breath, not looking at Cole, his mind repeating over and over again that he was talking to James again. "I'm in love with Cole," he whispered softly correcting himself, his head hung low.
Hazel blinked, their owner shocked into silence. Maybe it was a bad idea to pretend to be James... but if he had told him the truth, would Sirius have ever told him that he liked, no, loved him?
"How do I tell him? What if I do and everything gets weird between us because he doesn't like me?" There, he'd said it, the thing he truly feared. Silver grey eyes peeked sideways through his spill of hair hiding his face, trying to gauge Cole's reaction.
"I uh... I don't know how, but I don't think he would allow things to get weird," he answered hesitantly. James, he was trying to be James. Sirius would be upset if he told him the truth now. He'd be embarrassed.
Sirius sighed, the answer not giving him much to go on which meant that he'd have to keep pretending that he didn't know he was talking to Cole. "But should I? I mean, I don't even know if he's interested in guys. Has he told you which he prefers?" he asked quietly, continuing to pretend that he staring at the floor while he was really staring at Cole.
"Guys, he's interested in Guys, Paddy," he answered, his heart rate speeding up, his chest constricting.
"Has he said anything to you about if he's seen anyone he likes?" he prayed that Cole didn't hate him for deceiving him like this, but he was too scared to just come right out and ask him out directly.
Cole squirmed slightly, making it look like he was just trying to get more comfortable instead of trying to dispel his nerves. "A bit," he answered, trying his best to continue to sound like James, although he thought he had been doing a terrible job ever since Sirius had mentioned the word love.
"Well? Has he said who?" he asked hoping that Cole would tell him what he wanted to hear. James had led him to believe that he had a chance, but then again, he had also been extremely tired. So maybe he had only told him what he wanted to hear to make him go away sooner. He grimaced, not wanting to believe that it might be the case.
"I shouldn't be telling you any of this, Paddy," he answered softly, trying to sound sympathetic.
Sirius turned to him with large puppy dog eyes, whining, "please?"
Cole whimpered, looking away, fixing his gaze back out the window. "He likes you, Siri. Has from day one. Although I must say that I influenced that quite a bit, so I believe a thank you is in order any time now," he turned to look back at Sirius, a large grin on his face, mostly due to the fact that he had figured out something that James would actually say for a response. "Well? I'm wai-" he was cut off from finishing as Sirius launched himself at him, the other's mouth claiming his own.
He pulled back, wanting to kick himself for responding to the kiss while he was pretending to be James. "No... Lily," he murmured, panting lightly as he tried to regain his senses
Sirius had to chuckle as Cole continued to try to pretend to be James even after the searing kiss. Sure it had started out innocently enough, but it was hard to stop when he had Cole pressed against him so eager and willing. "Right. So. Will you go out with me, Cole?" he nuzzled his nose in the boy's neck to hide his amused smile as Cole floundered.
"You knew?!" he squeaked, covering his mouth with his hands when his voice cracked.
"Whole time, love. James is in the common room with Remy," he grinned cheekily against the boy's throat, still waiting for his answer.
Cole swatted him as Sirius nipped at his neck. "Stop that," he pushed him away slightly, his cheeks flaming.
He did as he was asked, still waiting patiently for a 'yes.'
A look of relief washed across his face when Sirius obeyed. His subconscious reminded him that the boy sitting in front of him had asked a very important question, one that he had yet to give an answer to. He was tempted to tease him about Severus, but thought better of it. He didn't want to have Sirius get mad at him for bringing him up. He had to remember that not all of his friends were friends with each other. That looked like it was going to be his hardest problem to deal with. Question! Back to question, his mind reminded him. "Yes. Yes, I'll go out with you, but only if it's a permanent thing. Not a 'we can see others on the side' sorta thing," he finally answered, smiling nervously.
"Wouldn't dream of it, love. Exclusive is what I was hopin' for," he grinned, stealing another kiss from the boy. "Told, Remy he didn't have anything to worry about when I stole your first kiss the other night," he grinned wickedly as Cole's cheeks heated again.
*-*-*
"So why can't we go up to the dorm room?" Peter asked, looking up at James. What on earth was going on up there?
James grinned happily, his arms wrapped around Lily, his head resting on her shoulder. "Well. Siri and Cole are about to be as happy as Lily and I are," he smiled kissing his girlfriend on the cheek.
"Who said I was happy?" Lily teased, bopping his nose playfully before turning her head to kiss him back.
"So you mean they're going to be d-dating?" Peter asked hesitantly, inwardly cringing at the idea. He had tried getting rid of Lily, but James had eventually asked her out. Since then there had been no possible way of alienating the girl without alienating himself. If he lied about Lily, James would question her and believe everything she said and he'd be the one in trouble, not her. Now the same would happen with Cole. He wasn't about to give up that easily though. Cole had obviously become friends with Snape, maybe he could somehow manage that into some sort of plan to get rid of Cole. It could work. Sirius hated Snape enough that he most likely would believe the worst of him. He just had to fabricate something believable enough that he would be too angry to talk to Cole.
Lily rolled her eyes at the boy, smiling. "Of course that's what he meant, Peter," she didn't mention that she had noticed the strange glint in his eyes, nor that fact that he didn't seem particularly happy about the idea of their friends dating. Maybe Cole had noticed something that they hadn't and that was why he didn't like Peter. She made a mental note to ask him why he didn't like him when they both had a moment. She knew that Sirius would want to dominate most of his time for a while. The two really would make an adorable couple.
It hadn't occurred to Peter to use Cole as his ticket into the heart of the group. By befriending Cole, he would bring more attention to himself from the other Marauders, but he was too blinded by jealously to even think of wanting anything to do with the boy. He cheered for the new couple with the others as the pair walked into the common room holding hands, but there was no enthusiasm in his actions.
Cole picked up immediately on Peter's distaste for their new relationship, unconsciously shifting closer to Sirius' side. The others might not think much of Peter, but he recognized a threat when he saw one. The boy's eyes frankly terrified him with the intensity of the hatred he saw in them. He tried to simply ignore him by focusing on everyone else surround him, his cheeks flushing in embarrassment due to all the attention he was getting. He wasn't used to it yet, to people actually liking him.
Green eyes watched Peter carefully, taking in every move he made, every look he gave. The feelings between Cole and Peter were definitely mutual, she finally decided. Peter liked Cole less than Cole liked Peter. If she didn't know any better, she'd say that the look in his eyes rivaled that of Sirius' when he looked at Snape. She needed to warn Sirius about that, since she doubted that Cole would likely tell him. She had the impression that Cole didn't like saying anything that would make someone else look bad. He'd only said he disliked Peter because he had been upset with James. She didn't like the way the school year was going already. She didn't have a problem with Cole befriending Snape, but she knew that it would undoubtedly cause problems later on when Sirius got jealous, and now there was whatever was going on between Peter and Cole.
TBC...