The Photograph

James realised he would have to do something to get them together. He wasn't quite sure yet but he knew that he would have to confront Sirius with being in love with Remus when he came over next week. There was no way James would let his friends only dream of being together when they really could be a couple. Suddenly, charming Lily only seemed half as important as before.

Chapter 2- Taking Risks

Sirius arrived at James house the next week as expected, light-hearted from seeing all his relatives that had been 'excluded' from the 'Most Ancient House of Black' since they weren't willing to accept being pure-blooded as the most important value. He had enjoyed seeing his favourite cousin Andromeda again after many years and playing with her little daughter Nymphadora. Still, Sirius was glad to be back with other teenagers and he and James had lots of fun.

James had mentioned Remus casually a few times without really hinting that he knew anything and Sirius had always carefully avoided showing how he really felt about Remus but his seemingly lightly chosen words and the number of times he mentioned Remus in their conversations hinted that James had guessed correctly.

Though James had always been one to say whatever came to his mind immediately, he now found it surprisingly difficult to confront Sirius about his feelings for Remus directly. He had often wanted to say something but then his courage had faded and the moment to ask had passed.

In the last week of holidays, James finally confronted Sirius. It was past midnight and after talking all evening, James was lying in bed and Sirius on the couch in the dark when James asked:

"Sirius, do you like Remus?"

"Of course I do, he is one of my best friends," Sirius replied.

James wished he could see his face but Sirius' answer had come much too fast, so James knew anyway that it wasn't quite the truth.

"I don't mean as a friend. You are in love with him, aren't you?"

Silence for a long moment, then James could hear Sirius taking a deep breath and answer in a quiet voice:

"Yes."

James felt awkward himself.

"Don't worry, I don't mind. At least I know now why you never went out with any of those girls. When you said that about waiting for somebody that is perfect for you, you were thinking of him, weren't you?"

"Yes. How did you find out? Was I so obvious about it?" Sirius asked, concern in his voice that others could have figured it out as well.

James laughed.

"No, I only figured it out while I was looking at the picture of me and Lily with the two of you in the background. You probably thought nobody would take any notice of you so you didn't hide your feelings as careful as you usually do. After realising you like him, it wasn't too difficult to see it in your other behaviour either. Since when have you liked Remus?"

"I guess I really realised what Remus meant to me after that episode in fifth year. I mean, I had found him attractive before, maybe it was even confusion about my feelings that made me tell Snape, though everything wasn't conscious to me then. After that argument, when he didn't talk to me for weeks, I was disturbed how much I missed him and realised what he really meant to me. I was so relieved when we finally settled it and our friendship was back to normal, or at least everyone thought it was. Of course, I didn't tell him what I felt for him, I was much too afraid of losing him again. I just tried to spend as much time as possible with him and to show him that I like him, though I was careful to let him think it was as a friend. You don't think he has noticed, do you?"

"No, I'm pretty sure he hasn't. You really should talk to him though."

"WHAT? You're mad, Prongs. Are you telling me to go up to him and say 'Oh, by the way Moony, I just happen to be in love with you.'? No way, Prongs!"

"Yes, I think you got the general picture. I believe you should tell him, he has the right to know. I don't think he will hate you for it, you know that wouldn't be like Moony. How do you want to find out what he thinks about you if you don't talk to him?"

"I know that well enough without asking. We are great friends and that's it for him. I don't mind not being together with him as long as we're friends, it is totally up to him."

"He can't decide whether your friendship should be more than that if he has no idea that you might like him more. You'll have to tell him before he can make the decision."

"If I tell him, that already makes it impossible for our friendship to stay as it is. He might not be shocked and hate me, you're right, that wouldn't be like him. But I'm sure that we will be more distant, even if he tries to act around me as he did before I told him. Our friendship wouldn't be as simple and natural as it is now."

"If you are thinking so much about it, it has stopped being simple long ago anyway. You seem to be constantly thinking about what would seem strange to do around him, trying to be as close to him as possible while at the same time trying to avoid doing anything that he wouldn't like if he knew. You weigh everything in your mind before you do it, which isn't like you at all. If you keep on going like this, you will probably forget who you really are. I don't think that a friendship could be much more complicated. Tell Remus how you feel about him and I'm sure you'll find a better way for your friendship, I'm sure it means much to Remus as well but he wouldn't want you to change who you are for it. You are telling him, I will make sure of that."

"Wow Prongs, what a speech! I'm impressed!" Sirius tried joking.

"I mean it, Sirius. If you go on like this, you will realise sometime that you've made a mess of everything and then you will probably try to get more distance from Moony and either you will find that you can't because you have changed everything about you for him or you will have to break free from him completely which would really ruin your friendship. That would probably hurt Remus and he wouldn't even know what it's all about. Tell him as soon as possible, how else can you be sure how he will react? Who knows, he might even like you back."

"Yeah sure, Moony like me back. Moony is as straight as anyone can be. And you're not going to tell him that I'm in love with him!"

"I'll leave that to you but you will never know if you don't ask. I'm sure that he would accept almost anything, he knows what it is like to be different from everybody else. I don't think many people would accept as many things as he, I guess the only thing he wouldn't accept is if you revealed his secret or went over to Voldemort's side and became a murderer! Even if he doesn't like you back in the same way as you like him, he will still like you and do anything to keep your friendship. What are you afraid of? I always thought you were in Gryffindor for a reason but I'm starting to doubt that. Maybe you should have been in Slytherin after all, you don't seem to be prepared to take a risk for this."

"That's not fair, James! I can't see you writing a letter to Lily asking her to meet you at Florescue's ice-cream parlour when we go to Diagon alley on Tuesday. If you ask her out, I'll tell Remus!"

The conversation had taken an unexpected turn for James. He was trying everything to get his two friends together but now Sirius was telling that he had to risk making Lily mad at him when he had finally managed to show her he wasn't a jerk.

"That's something different! She knows that I'm in love with her and she is probably going to kill me if I ask her."

"It's the same. You risk never having a chance with her again and I risk losing Moony's friendship. In fact, I still believe it is riskier for me. I mean, she let that picture be taken of the two of you and I don't think she was wishing you nice holidays that friendly to show you how much she hates you. That means that you have two signs more that she likes you than I have that Remus likes me in a more than friendly way."

James knew that Sirius had a point. It was only fair if he had to take a risk as well.

He couldn't expect Sirius to risk so much and stay passive himself hoping that Lily would take another step towards him while he did nothing. Besides, his two friends being happy was important enough to risk being rejected by Lily, it would only be another time he was turned down by her. It didn't really matter that much, he told himself firmly.

"OK, fine. I'm writing her that letter tomorrow. But if you haven't talked to Moony by the time we get off the Hogwarts Express, I'm telling him myself."

Ok, there's the second chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. I must say that I finally found the place where they say answering to reviews isn't allowed anymore ( I don't know how I couldn't see it before) so I can only thank you for your reviews in general. Keep reviewing anyways!