Chapter 25

"What do you want to do?" asked Sirius as he lay on his bed. Anastasia was with Mrs. Potter.

"I don't know what do you want to do?" responded James, who was sitting on the floor leaning on Sirius's bed.

"I don't know, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know what do you-you know, that isn't a good idea. If we start we'll never stop."

Sirius sat up and smiled impishly. "I know, I was just trying to find something to do."

James rolled his eyes and stood up. "We could always give Remus or Peter a call and beg them to come amuse us."

Sirius thought about that option for a moment, and then shook his head. "Peter said he wouldn't be able to for a month, which it hasn't been, and it's the full moon tonight."

James sighed in frustration. "Well, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know, what do you want to do?" chuckled Sirius. James rolled his eyes again.

"Don't even start," he growled and stood up to pace around, trying to find something fascinating to do. "We could…" he trailed off as one idea faded from his mind.

"I say we…" Sirius started, but then gave up. There was nothing they really could do. Sirius, a few days ago, had caught a cold and wasn't up to doing anything strenuous or remotely active for that matter.

"Let's go teach Anastasia how to read," said James, beginning to walk to the door.

"Bad idea," the teenager on the bed called over to him.

"Why?"

"She's only five months old, that's why," he retorted. At those words, James spun on his heel and walked back to Sirius. Gently pushing him over, he sat down next to him and played with his hair.

Sirius snuggled into James, although he was laying down while James was still sitting up. Taking the hint, James lay down and wrapped around Sirius's slender body. "We could just sit up here all day," muttered Sirius sleepily.

"How can you sound so tired?" an incredulous James asked his boyfriend. "You slept in until noon."

"Is it really noon?" a surprised Sirius asked, looking at his watch. It said 1:03.

"Not anymore," replied James, also looking at the watch. Then he kissed Sirius on the mouth, not a long kiss, but still a meaningful one. "You know, I like your idea of just sitting here all day."

Sirius smiled as he snuggled up against James's chest. "I thought you would," he purred. James kissed him on the forehead and gently stroked his friend's back. Eventually Sirius was lulled back to sleep by the beating of James's heart and his gentle fingers.

The door opened and James looked up to see his mother in the doorway, Anastasia in her arms. "I see I'm interrupting something," she said quietly, sounding sorry and turned to leave.

James shook his head slightly. "Nah, he just fell asleep." James gently stroked his boyfriend's hair, and then said, "He's been so tired lately and I don't know why."

Mrs. Potter came in and lay Anastasia down in her bed. She walked over to the bed and lay her hand on Sirius's forehead, checking to see if he had a fever. Shaking her head, she stated, "He's just got a cold, no temperature. Colds tend to make a person exhausted."

James nodded and Sirius stirred slightly in his arms. He, however, did not awaken and James looked up at his mom. "I hate all the things that have happened to him. Why did they have to happen to Sirius? What did he ever do to deserve his parents treatment?"

Mrs. Potter sighed and shook her head. "I don't know," she confessed. "I can't understand how parents could subject their child to such cruel treatment. I can't even imagine treating you like that. I've tried."

James raised his eyebrows in grim amusement. "You've imagined torturing and abusing me while making my life hell?" he asked, somewhat disconcerted.

Laughing slightly, Mrs. Potter amended, "I said I tried and failed, and that was only when I was trying to see from the Blacks' perspective." Her laughter faded and she looked at Sirius with a sad look in her eyes. "Not all of us can be so lucky I guess," she said softly. "Some of us have to be dealt a bad hand or nobody wins."

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you trying to say that because of Sirius's suffering, someone else will have prospered?"

"No," Mrs. Potter corrected, "I'm saying that…ok, I'm gonna try a different approach. Do you think that you and Sirius would be as close as you are if he had not gone through hell last summer?"

James thought about it for a minute. He saw no reason as to why not, but then again, the only reason they were together was because of a rant that Sirius had had the first night back. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "I probably wouldn't have found out about his feelings until later, because he accidentally told me in a rant the first night back."

"You see," Mrs. Potter said smiling, "You both won, because of a bad hand." With those words said, Mrs. Potter got up and left the room. James lay there, Sirius in his arms, contemplating what she had said. Would they have been together if Sirius hadn't been raped? James didn't want to think about it.He didn't like thinking that because horrible things had happened to Sirius, he gained the most important person in his life. Sirius again squirmed in his arms, breaking James out of his thoughts.

"A bad hand, aye?" Sirius mumbled, startling an unsuspecting James. Sirius blinked his eyes open blearily and turned around to face James. His grey eyes were shining with amusement.

"You were awake?" questioned James, looking at him straight in the eyes.

Sirius shrugged mildly and kissed James on the cheek. "Only dimly, until the bad hand part."

James smiled. A few summers ago the Potters had taught Sirius how to play poker. Immediately, Sirius had fallen in love with it, although he had absolutely no skill in the game. He had no poker face whatsoever, but still had fun making outrageous bets and winning most of the time because of forfeit from the other players.

"Well, I hope whatever I might have said did not offend you," he teased in response.

Sirius shook his head. "Am I supposed to be offended, because I can pretend that I am."

"No, that's ok."

"But it would give us something to do."

"But I don't want you mad at me."

"I won't really get mad."

"You're right. You'll blow things completely out of proportion!"

"It's so goodto know that you have so much faith in me."

"Ain't it though?"

A.N. alright, this is the last pointless chapter that I have to b.s. um, yeah, please review, thank you for reviewing, sorry about the randomness, and…adios.