Chapter Eight: Goodbye
A week after their fight, James and Remus still hadn't apologized and James was clinging to Lily more and more. Lily hardly had time to see Remus because James would always make sure that they were far away from each other. Remus was getting fed up with it. If James was going to act like a baby and not accept their apologies, after both he and Lily told him the full truth and even tried to reason with him, Remus didn't know what he should do. One day, Remus was about to walk into their dorm, when he heard what sounded like crying. He thought it was coming from the girls' dorm but then totally shoved that thought out of his mind when it was too close and the sobs sounded nothing like a girls. Remus walked in finding the curtains around James' bed closed and loud sobs coming from behind it.
"James?" Remus asked, letting James know that he was in the room. The sobs stopped abruptly and James cleared his throat. "What do you want?" he asked.
"I just wanted to see if you were alright."
James pulled the curtains aside and looked at Remus, "Well you don't have to be nice to me Remus just because Lily wants you to."
Remus looked at him in astonishment, "But I'm not being nice just because Lily wants me to James. I'm being nice because I want to be, you just don't see it. Now what's wrong?" James looked at Remus and, rolling his eyes a little, handed him a letter. Remus unfolded it and read:
'Dear James,
It's your father. How have you been? How are you doing in school? Hopefully both of these questions will be answered with good, or better yet, great. I hope you aren't getting into trouble. I'm happy to announce that I haven't got a single owl about your behavior this year so far and I am very proud. It's better to think about that then what I am about to tell you. You know how your mother has been struggling with lung cancer for the last few years? Well she passed away just a few hours ago. I hate to be writing this in a letter but there's no other way to tell you. I'm packed down with work and with the funeral arrangements, otherwise I would've came there and told you. The funeral will be in two days time, Sirius may come if he likes to since she was practically his mother too. I have written to Dumbledore telling him of the funeral, stating that you will only be gone for a few days. I hope this letter reaches you well. I hope to see you and Sirius here soon.
Your loving father.'
Remus was in shock, he expected that the letter would be bad but not this bad. The thought that James' mother died was bad enough, then to add in the fact that Remus didn't even know she was sick made it ten times worse.
"Oh James, this is horrible."
"You're telling me," James replied a little calmed down, "I knew that she was going to die but, not so soon."
Remus nodded. "Did you tell Sirius yet?"
James shook his head, "I just got the letter an hour ago. I don't even know if I'm gonna tell Sirius."
"Tell me what?" Sirius said walking in. He looked at Remus and then at James. When he saw how upset James was he said, "Please don't tell me that either you got Lily pregnant or you two are gay lovers and you're looking for a three-some 'cause that just won't go well on my behalf."
James tried to laugh but couldn't. "Let him read the letter Remus." Remus handed Sirius the letter and Sirius read it once, and then a second time only this time more slowly. His jaw dropped, "Oh man, are you serious?" But before anyone could use the old serious/Sirius joke on him he held up his hand to stop them. "I know, I know. He's not, I am." Sirius sighed, "James, this is horrible."
"Don't you think I know that," James replied getting frustrated. Sighing he sat on his bed. "I don't even think I'm going to go," he said gloomily.
"Not go, are you mad!" Sirius said, "You have to go! It's your mum's funeral!"
"So, it's not like they need me there."
"But your father wants you there. I think he'd feel a whole lot better if you were there, you'd be able to comfort each other."
"But what about you?"
"Hey, I don't need to go. It wasn't my mother who died, although I wish that she would."
"Well, if you're not going then I'm not going. If you want me to go so badly I want you to go just as bad. I mean like my dad said, my mum was practically your mum. When your mother wasn't there, she was and she cared for you just as much as she cared for me."
"Alright, alright," Sirius said, "we'll both go. Now we should go tell Dumbledore what we decided." But just before they walked out James said, "Wait for me Sirius, I wanna talk to Remus alone."
"Alright but no funny business you two," Sirius said giving a wink and walking out.
"Hey listen Remus," James said, "I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you, and I know that it wasn't really your fault that you kissed Lily. It was mostly mine since I got you two to break up in the first place."
"Well, you don't have to take all the blame James. I should've left you to help Lily out on your own. You were right; it really wasn't my business to get into even if I am one of her best friends."
After a silence James asked, "Speaking of friends, are we still?"
Jokingly Remus said, "Let me think about it," and after a pause he said, "Of course James! Don't be stupid." Even though it wasn't manly for them Remus and James hugged, but broke apart as soon as they heard, "Awww, the two love birds are making up. Better not let Lily see you two kiss now," Sirius was standing in the doorway watching. Remus and James laughed and James said, "Let's go Sirius," and they left to go and talk to Dumbledore about the funeral.
When Sirius and James reached the gargoyle that led to stairs outside of Dumbledore's office, a place they have been numerous times in the past, they hesitated.
"Okay James," Sirius said, "what's the password?"
"Beats me," James replied.
"What do you mean 'beats me'? You're head boy you should know!"
"Hey they give us a password to the Gryffindor common room, not to the headmaster's office."
Sirius thought for a second, "Well for the past few years the password has been food of some kind. So all we have to do is think of food I guess."
So Sirius and James stood there, feeling like idiots, shouting out different types of candy and junk food. All of a sudden the gargoyle jumped aside so they thought they had guessed the right word, but then they saw Dumbledore standing there. Dumbledore look at the two boys and smiled.
"Hello, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black. What may I help you with?"
"Professor Dumbledore," James said, "we came here to inform you that we are going to my mother's funeral."
"Ah, yes, I thought you two would be." Dumbledore replied nodding his head. "The only thing is that I ask you two to be able to come back and keep up with your work. As head boy you need to be on top of things, Mr. Potter, and the same thing goes for you Mr. Black, even if you're not head boy. Do you understand?" both boys nodded their heads to show that they understood. "Alright then, tomorrow you two will come to my office and will take floo powder to get to Mr. Potter's house."
James and Sirius didn't expect it to be that easy. "Alright Professor," James replied, "We'll see you tomorrow. I just have one question, what's the password to your office? So, ya know, we're not out here all morning." Dumbledore leaned forward and whispered the password in their ear. Standing up straight he smiled, "Now off you go you two," and he walked away down the hall leaving the two boys standing there, staring after him.