Thanks to reviewers!!
Sirius' POV
It's been three days since the prank and Remus is coming back to the dorms today. Yesterday Snape started around the information of our relationship. It has since spread through all the houses and a few hours ago it came to James who told me. I'm not worried about our relationship; we love each other too much for it to be ruined by something like this, but I am worried about what people might do. A big part of Snapes motivation was Remus' sexual preference. Is that just the beginning of a string of hate crimes that will follow us through our entire lives together?
I walk slowly towards the hospital wing. I'm dreading what this could do to him. Remus is the type of person who is very sensitive, yet hates to admit it. He builds walls to fence in his emotions. Only his closest friends have ever been allowed to pass through these walls, and even then there is another set of walls that even I have not been able to pass through.
In all the time that I've know Remus I've never seen him cry. Even after a particularly bad transformation the tears stay in his eyes; he refuses to let him fall. I think that he does this to prove that he is not weak, although to who he is trying to prove this to I don't know.
I've reached the hospital wing now, and I push the door open slowly. He is sitting on the edge of his bed, dressed in his robes. He ate breakfast here and I have already eaten in the Great Hall. He smiles faintly as I enter the room and my heart warms.
"Ready?" I ask quietly.
"For anything," he answers in a tone that matches my own. He puts on a brave front, but I can see through it. He's terrified to walk out of these doors. Remus is the kind of person who likes to keep in the background. He doesn't like to be noticed; probably because of the fact the he's a werewolf. Silently I curse society for creating this fear in him.
We walk slowly through the doors and into the bustling hallways of the school. Together we walk towards our first class, meeting James and Peter along the way. Whispers follow us, but we ignore them.
I don't really pay much attention in class. It's hard to concentrate on goblin rebellions when your loves face is constantly fixed in an expression of sadness and fear.
On the way to lunch a foot sticks out and Remus trips over it. I automatically reach out and catch him. "Are you alright?" ask in a voice barely above a whisper. He nods and smiles faintly. I carefully help him to his feet; immediately the whispering and pointing starts.
I never thought that words could hurt so much. "Queer, fag, gay, fruit…," these words follow us all the way to the Great Hall. The words don't bother me so much as the fact that I haven't heard the word 'love' once.
Our group is silent through all of lunch and most of the afternoon classes. Finally the day is over and we are free to go to dinner. On the way we come across a group of seventh year Slytherins.
"Well look what we have here boys, if it isn't Hogwarts resident queers," sneers the one who appears to be the leader as they move to block our path.
"Let us through," I growl softly. The day has been a strain and I'm on my last nerve.
One of the bastards suddenly mutters a spell and a flashing sign reading 'fag' appears over Remus' head. "Now everyone will know what you are," he says. Remus turns slowly and heads off in the opposite direction. I say a reversal spell and hex the idiots until they can't see straight and then tear after Remus.
They yell after me but I just run; I'm beyond the point of caring. I run as fast as I can through the crowded halls and I'm moving against the flow too, but as long as I find Remus I don't care how many people I run into. I run up the staircase and through the last hallways to the Gryffindor dorms.
Finally I make it up the final staircase and burst into the dorms. He's standing in the middle of the room with his back to me. "Remus…Moony?" I say quietly. He turns and faces me.
I hurry across the room and pull him into a tight embrace. He returns it and slowly we sink to the floor together. Then he starts to cry. This is the boy who has been through pain unimaginable to most people and didn't once shed a tear, but through people's hate has finally broken down. His walls that he has built so carefully over the course of his life have crumbled and finally fallen.
I pull him into my lap and let him cry into my shoulder. A few tears of my own escape as I hold him. I rub his back and say his name over and over again into his hair.
We sit like this for a long time. Eventually his sobs subside and turn into the occasional hiccup. "Why do people hate us?" he whispers into my shoulder.
"I don't know love, I don't know," I reply. It's a question that I would really like to have the answer to. How can people be so cruel to someone so wonderful?
"Maybe it's better that people know," he says, "I mean at least now we don't have to fear everyone finding out." He turns his tearstained face up towards mine and I nod in agreement. I then proceed to kiss away all the stray tears that are still on his face. This earns me a laugh and I smile for the first time today.
"So," I say after a few more minutes of comfortable silence, "how about a kitchen raid before everyone comes back from dinner?" He agrees and we head out.
We stay out of everyone's way for the rest of the night, doing our homework in the dorms. As we lay in bed, Remus safely sleeping in my arms, I resolve to do something. I hate seeing him hurt.
Remus' POV
I do believe that yesterday ranked as one of the worst days of my life. I try to tell myself over and over again that they're just words, but my heart still aches. I suppose that it comes from my life long desire to be accepted. I know that it sounds silly, a gay werewolf wanting to be accepted by society, but that want is still there.
I know that Sirius is planning something, and that thought scares me slightly. This morning he told me to think about what I might want to say to everybody who's been ridiculing us. I can only hope that this will end well, because when Sirius gets an idea there's no stopping him.
It's lunch time now, and we are sitting at our usual place in the Great Hall. The four of us ate breakfast in the kitchens this morning, but Sirius said that there was no way that we could hide forever so we might as well get it over with.
So far lunch has been fairly uneventful; a few funny stares and a whisper or two when we walked in, but other than that not much.
Suddenly Sirius stands up and climbs on top on the bench we're sitting on. With him he pulls me up, an arm around my waist to steady me. "Can I have your attention please," he shouts loudly. He shouts this a couple more times before he has the level of quiet that he wants.
"Over the last two days there have been some rumors going around that I, Sirius Black, and this fine gentleman here, Remus Lupin, are in a romantic relationship. I would like to confirm these rumors and tell you that it is true." There is an immediate flurry of talking when he delivers this information.
He waits a few moments for the general murmur to subside before continuing. "Now what I would like to know, is why the vast majority of you have a problem with this. Are you afraid of us? Why is it that when you see a couple snogging, like James Potter and Lily Evans for example, everyone is fine with it but when even the hint of two blokes being more that just friends is brought up you're disgusted. What's so wrong with it? I love him and he loves me." He looks to me for reassurance and I nod slightly.
"Love is love, can't you see that? There's nothing that we can do about this, it's not something that we can help. I know that a lot of you have problem with this concept, but if you really have a problem with two people being in love, than I think that you have bigger problems than we do. So please, in the future, keep your comments to yourselves, we don't want to hear them."
He says this quickly, but every word is understandable. He also talks with a passion that I've never heard in him before. Then he's talking again, "is this what you're afraid of?" he asks before sweeping me into a passionate kiss. There is a bit of a collective gasp from the crowd before we slowly pull away.
"Anything that you'd like to add love?" he asks softly.
I nod and turn to face my peers, "Whe…when," I stutter. Sirius tightens his arm around me and I continue. "When I think of the word love, I think of an indefinable emotion that's the most beautiful thing in the whole world. How can you put a label on what the laws are for falling in love? Please, let us love in peace."
I look around at the sea of faces and hope that this has made some impact. Then I hear a single pair of hands clapping. James rises in his seat and Peter quickly joins him. Slowly others join in. Not everyone is clapping, but most of Gryffindor is. I'd say that both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are cut two to one, the two in our favor. The Slytherin table is pretty much silent, but that's to be expected. He hops down from the bench and offers me a hand which I take. Outside the Great Hall he takes my hand as we head to our afternoon classes and glares defiantly at anyone who looks like they're going to comment on it.
I admit that it's a relief to not have to worry about this secret anymore. I really don't think that I have been anymore proud of anyone in my entire life than I am of Sirius today. It takes a lot of courage to stand up like that and it just makes me love him even more.
~*~*~
It's later in the day now and we're in the common room. It's a Friday night and we've taken up our usual Friday night positions. On the sofa across from me sit Lily and James. Lily is sitting upright and James has his head in her lap. They look perfectly content to just lie like that all night.
On the sofa in the middle of Lily and James' and the one that I occupy sit Peter and his girlfriend; Jen. Jen is just about as perfect a match for Peter as I could think of. She has blond hair that is almost always in a braid and blue eyes that are even bluer than Peters. The two of them started dating about two months ago, although how is still a bit of a mystery since both of them are rather shy. The certainty of them getting married is about as great as Lily and James. They are lying in a similar fashion to Lily and James.
Sirius and I occupy the last sofa. Tonight though instead of sitting at opposite ends of the sofa and only brushing toes occasionally, we are both at one end of the couch. Sirius is leaning against the arm and I'm lying between his legs; using him as a backrest. He has his arms slung lightly around my waist and I have one hand over them. Occasionally he'll kiss my temple lightly. This, I think to myself, is true contentment.
I'm reading a book and the other guys are talking about Quidditch. That's the reason that I'm reading instead of listening. I like to play every once in a while, but they have really talked the subject to death. From the occasional bit that I pick up, Sirius and James are in disagreement over something. The next time I tune in the conflict has been resolved by Peter. The boy has an excellent memory for rules and stats, which is surprising because when it comes to school facts his memory is like a sieve. The girls are talking about something, but I never get the gist of their conservation.
Every once in a while someone will come up to speak to us. Most are to congratulate us, although a few aren't as pleasant. One girl comes over and starts ranting. I recognize her as one of Sirius' ex-girlfriends. He responds calmly, but the girl walks away with an orange face and bright green hair. No one else dares to criticize again. In this moment I am truly safe and happy.
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