Title: Delicate Treasures

Author: Stardrops

Genre: Romance

Rating: PG 13 (For slash and occasional swearing, precautions only)

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't own anything to do with Harry Potter. I do, however, own the plot. I am very proud. But the rest belongs to our creative genius, J K Rowling.

Chapter Nine: Observant James

The day passed quickly, James and Sirius dominated the Quidditch pitch while Remus watched from below, claiming that he didn't feel like flying that day. James kept throwing sly glances at Sirius.

"So." He threw the Quaffle into the air, aiming past Sirius who was too fast and snatched the ball before it even flew past his shoulder.

"So what?" Sirius replied, throwing the Quaffle high over James's head who flipped over in the air in a spectacular somersault before catching the ball in the tips of his fingers.

"Busy night?" James asked innocently, swooping below Sirius and throwing the ball with all his might towards the hoops that Sirius was supposed to be guarding. Sirius purposely let the ball fall towards the ground before chasing after it – it gave him a moment to think. He felt a sudden chill at James's teasing but slightly serious tone. There could be no doubt about it, James knew something about him. Could it be – no, that was impossible. No one knew.

He spiraled back to join James. "No busier than yours, I'm sure." He threw the Quaffle hard at James, who caught it easily and held it to his chest as he flew towards Sirius slowly, beckoning for Sirius to do the same.

"You followed Moony."

"So what?" Sirius shivered. This was creepy. For someone who seemed so happily dumb to everything around him sometimes, James was surprisingly observant when it came to things Sirius really – REALLY – did not want him to figure out.

"Sirius, you can't fool me. I'm your best mate. Tell me the truth. Do you swing the other way?"

Sirius swallowed. "What do you mean?"

James rolled his eyes and gave Sirius a don't-play-dumb-with-me look. "Are you gay?"

Sirius widened his eyes as convincingly as he could. "No!"

James cocked his head and looked at him skeptically.

Sirius relented. "Maybe?"

James raised one eyebrow and tapped his finger on the ball which he still held.

Sirius groaned. "Okay fine. Yes, James, I bat for the other team."

James shook his head in wonder. "Why didn't you ever say something?"

Sirius chuckled dryly. "James, you are going to be so awkward around me now, and I knew that this would make everything different between us, so I didn't want to tell you."

"But it's not me that you fancy," James told him.

Sirius snorted. "I knew that."

"So why would that make us weird?"

Sirius paused. "Because..."

James nodded. "See?" He briefly clapped a hand on Sirius's shoulder as best he could without falling off his broom. "Padfoot, there's nothing wrong with homosexuality. You realise that, don't you?"

Sirius's eyes darted quickly to where Remus was standing and then back. "People are going to be weird around me when they find out."

"I bet you they won't be," James countered. "They'll probably be interested but not disgusted or anything. Anyway, this isn't about them. This is about you. And Remus."

Sirius's head shot up. "What?" he barked.

James sat slightly back on his broom. "It's not me you fancy. It's Remus."

Sirius tried to laugh, but his voice came out in a hoarse, unconvincing cough. "W-what are you talking about?"

The Quaffle sat forgotten in James's arms as he shot a look at Remus before looking back at Sirius. "Come on. Don't think I haven't noticed."

"Noticed what?"

"The way you look at him. The smile that lights up your face whenever he says something nice to you. You don't give him half as much crap as you give me and Peter. You've hardly looked at a female since fifth year as far as I've noticed. And besides – the little things you do that no one else notices? They're so unlike the Sirius Black you always pretend to be that it makes them conspicuous to me."

Sirius swallowed. "Is it really that obvious?" he asked, aghast.

James smiled knowingly. "Only to me."

There was a slight pause, broken only by the whistle of the wind against their broom tails in the air. "You haven't told him?" Sirius asked, his voice breaking.

"No."

Sirius looked at James. "How long have you known?"

James pondered for a moment. "Probably subconsciously for about a year. Consciously, about an hour."

Sirius stared at him. "You figured it out because I gave Remus a cloak to keep him warm?"

James shrugged. "It's the little things that count." Another pause silenced their conversation. "When are you going to tell him?"

"Who says I'm going to?" countered Sirius.

James snorted. "You've fancied the bloke for ages, haven't you? You're not seriously telling me that you aren't going to tell him how you feel." Sirius was silent. "Are you?" Sirius remained silent. "Padfoot! No! You can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because!" James spluttered. "If you let this go, are you going to look back and regret it later?"

Sirius thought for a moment. His gaze strayed yet again to where Remus stood, no longer watching them but reading another book from his large collection. He couldn't help a little smile taking control of his features. Looking back up, he noticed James was watching him.

"Yes. I think I will regret it," Sirius replied in a voice so soft it was almost lost upon the wind.

"Then tell him." James was looking at Sirius with such a brotherly look that Sirius had an urge to reach out and hug him. He didn't however; he thought that given the fact James had just figured that Sirius was homosexual, that the contact might be unwelcome.

"When the time is right." Sirius stopped talking for a moment. "Anyway, what are you going to do about the situation with Lily?"

James shrugged. "There's nothing I can do, I guess. I'm just going to have to follow your advice. Maybe for once in your life, you'll actually be right."

"I wouldn't count on that," said Sirius, winking.

"No, judging by your track record, neither would I," James replied playfully. He sighed. "Why is it always so hard with girls? At least you sort of know what Remus is thinking. I have no bloody idea what goes through the heads of girls. They are a complete mystery. Why on earth do they feel the need to constantly apply that shiny stuff to their lips?"

Sirius shrugged.

"I suppose it does look kinda nice," James admitted, "but the whole thing seems utterly pointless because it has to be done so many times a day!"

A smile crept over Sirius's face and he shook his head, rolling his eyes. "You think of the most random things sometimes, Prongs."

James took a mock bow in midair, and almost fell off his broom. The Quaffle fell from his arms and sailed towards the ground. Neither boy made a move to retrieve it.

"Have we had enough Quidditch?" Sirius asked.

James thought. "I think we have," he answered. As he made to descend, Sirius grabbed his arm and halted him.

"You won't tell him? Will you? You won't tell anyone?" he asked desperately.

Clapping a hand to his heart, James promised, "This is your thing to tell who you want, when you want. I won't tell anyone."

Sirius breathed out in a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

James paused for a second. "But I reckon you should just walk up to Remus and pash him and see what his reaction is."

Sirius stared at James, openmouthed. "What?"

James shrugged. "It'd be rather interesting, don't you think?"

Sirius shook his head. "He'd think I was insane."

"He wouldn't be far wrong."

Sirius punched him playfully in the arm and the two friends descended slowly.

"Thanks for not being all weird about it, Prongs," Sirius said in a moment of surprising solemnity. James turned to him in surprise.

"How could I be weird about it? You're my best mate."

By that time, they'd reached the ground and Remus was walking to join them, so their conversation hastily changed to one less suspicious. Sirius, however, did not miss the sly glance that James sent him when Remus walked on the other side of the two so Sirius was in the middle.

It was late in the afternoon, and Sirius was thinking long and hard about what James had just told him. It was very unlike James to say something so deep and unsarcastic for such a long period of time. Come to think of it, it was rather out of character for any of the Marauders to be so empathic.

He had never been so glad to have the Marauders.

James had drifted off to sleep on his bed. As they'd entered the common room, Lily and her friends had been sitting by the window on a sofa, examining a Muggle magazine and giggling, occasionally blurting out random things like, "He's so hot!" and "What a tart – who wears that sort of thing?" James's look of longing as he watched Lily laugh was enough to make anyone sympathetic to his cause. He'd said nothing as they'd walked up to their dormitories, stoutly ignored by every girl in Lily's close circle, and told them shortly that he was going to take a small nap.

Sirius wondered where Remus had gone. As soon as James had drifted off to sleep, Remus had whispered to Sirius that he had to go somewhere, and left without giving Sirius time to ask where or to invite himself along.

Slipping out of the room, he wandered out into the common room where the girls were still sitting, but the magazine was no longed the center of attention. They all seemed to be engrossed in whatever it was that Lily was telling them. As soon as Sirius appeared, their conversation stopped. The common room was otherwise empty, and Sirius maintained an awkward silence with their clique for a short moment before nodding curtly in Lily's direction and exiting as smoothly as he dared.

He could hear their whispers and giggles start up again as soon as he was out of the portrait hole. Pressing his ear up against the wall, ignoring the protests of the Fat Lady, he listened with all his might but could only catch a few words at a time.

A burst of giggles met his ear and he cringed. He hated it when girls giggled. It seemed the equivalent to male burping – extremely irritating to the opposite sex.

"What was it like?" he heard one of Lily's friends ask in a hushed tone.

"...kinda nice...for a few...it only..." Sirius frowned and moved his ear along the wall. Surely there was a better way to eavesdrop than this. He could barely hear what Lily was saying at all.

"...it's James!" he heard another girl squeal. "He's supposed to be the best kisser in Gryffindor!"

Even from behind the wall, he could imagine Lily's cheeks going red. "Well, I suppose he's not too bad," he heard her admit. An evil smirk spread across his face. He listened harder.

"...not too bad!...other girls say he's amazing..."

"Yes, okay, he was...kinda...amazing," Lily admitted. Sirius nearly jumped into the air with elation and mirth. He turned with a wide grin for a second to see Remus standing behind him with a very confused expression. He really did jump at that, and flattened himself against the wall with a terrified and guilty look on his face.

"What are you doing?" Remus asked, completely bewildered.

Sirius hung his head. "Eavesdropping."

Remus tutted. Pausing for a second, he looked both ways to see if anyone was coming, and then leaned closer. "Hear anything good?"

Sirius smirked and beckoned for Remus to follow him. "We have some good news for James, I believe," he said, grinning.

Sirius had been absolutely right. James's mood was greatly improved by the news that Lily had definitely enjoyed herself on New Years.

"So...why is she acting all weird?"

Remus threw his hands into the air. "She's a girl! They're all weird!"

James paced up and down the dormitory.

"So...she did enjoy herself, but yet she's not interested in seeing me again. That girl is either a player, playing hard to get, or simply wanted a pash on New Years. Please tell me it's not the last one." James sank onto his bed with a groan.

"Dude, the first one and the last one are almost exactly the same. And neither sounds anything like Lily Evans. I reckon she's playing hard to get." Sirius examined his nails as he spoke until he realised that what he was doing and hastily stopped.

Remus agreed. "It's not like Lily to simply pash someone because she could. She doesn't take advantage of people. But I think it may be more complicated than that for her. Girls are much more emotional than us, we all know that." He was answered by vigorous nods from both the other boys. "Right, so maybe she's suffering extremely complicated emotions and just needs time to think things through. Don't lose hope, Prongs."

James nodded to his two friends gratefully. "Thanks, guys."

TBC

A/N: I know. Terrible place to leave off at. But it's been so long since I updated and I'd hit writers block at this point that I decided just to update anyway. Hope you like it. I am aware that James is a little girly with his acceptance of Sirius's sexuality, but contrary to popular belief, guys are capable of being understanding and sensitive to each others feelings. And that is how I imagined James would react to figuring out Sirius's sexuality.

Sorry it's taken so long as well, I had a cold for a week and then I was better for three days and promptly came down with the flu, so I haven't had a good couple of weeks. With all the work school is piling on because it's mid-term, it's pretty much killing me! Almost the end of winter though – no more cold! Yay!

All my reviewers are wonderful angelic people!

Grimy Grunhilda Grunt: Awwwwww, don't throw too many onions and pickles at her. She's just being a normal female. :P I actually really loved writing that, James was hilarious to imagine. grins

Ickle Ronnie: Excellent. Let me know if I slip up, okay?

Prongs1: Oooh, three reviews! Thank you! I'm glad you are liking my story, please continue to read and review it! Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to change or add in, okay?

LythTaeraneth: 1: Thank you! 2: Okay, mental note taken. :D 3: Your wish is my command!

I love Moony 04: Hehehehe only times? Surely more than that!...Aren't they the cutest people? squeals they're so adorable to imagine as a couple. I love writing this fic. :D And no, you're not insane, the 'James dawning comprehension' thing is definitely right, as you'll see in this chapter. He's not as thick as he seems :P Wow, I'm glad you follow it so closely! I hope it continues to your likings :D

Raven Mistress: lol I'm sorry! The Remus/Sirius fluffy goodness will come in good time, be patient :P I'm so glad you love my story! hugz ravenmistress and I hope I didn't kill you too badly...

RoschLupinBlack: I know. The pain I put him through. Sigh. :P Thank you!

StolenSoul4818: Meeples? I love that!!! What does it mean exactly? Chipmunks, hey? Interesting thought. :P Why haven't you slept in 48 hours?! You insane person. I love sleep. Thanks heaps for your review! smiles

Piper13: I know. Aren't I just horrible? I'm sorry about that. He'll survive though. Hehehehe. Yeah, they can be adorable. I really want to write more fluffy stuff, but first we have to actually get through the Lily/James crap, so it may be another chapter unless I can shuffle things around a bit.

MelissaMoony: It is a pretty good example, hey?! Lol I felt so mean for writing that, but at the same time, I loved making his life so evilly complicated. laughs wickedly

Seraphina Pyra: Thank you! Here's more for you! :D

IsisFireDancer: You're welcome. He's absolutely adorable – all the Marauders are except for Peter who I really dislike, so I kinda shove him out of the way a little :P Hope ur still liking my story!