:Chapter Eleven:

"And?" James asked before Peter even got the chance to sit down. "Where did he go? Tell me."

"Just-" Peter panted. "Just a second…"

"No! Tell me!" James said extremely impatiently, shaking on Peter's arm.
"James!" Remus said, "Give the poor boy some time to breathe!"

"Okay, okay." James said, looking at Peter. "Done yet?"

"Okay," Peter started, "H-he w-was with girl."

"See!" James slammed his hand onto the table to confirm his being right. "I knew he was talking rubbish. What did they do?"

Peter turned pink again. "Just… stuff…"

"What kind of stuff?"

"Private stuff."

"Come on, Worm, what did you see?"

"Well- first they were talking and… then they touched each other."

"And?" James said, sitting at the tip of his chair now.

"Hey," Peter said darkly. "If you want to see your best friend shags someone, fine with me, but I'm not a perv like you."

Remus snorted. "Yeah, James," he said teasingly, "be reasonable."

"Okay, you're right, but- didn't they do anything special?"

"No-ho. As I said, they just touched, kissed and- probably thingy." Peter said, waving a funny hand.

"Hm…" James said, "Wait a sec!" He suddenly shot upright in his chair. "Did you just say they kissed!"

"Er- yeah? Is that something new?"

"Come on, Peter! Don't you know Sirius at all?" James blurted out, wondering how Peter managed to forget things about people he hang around with for six years so quickly. He turned to Remus.

Remus stared back for a while. Then he turned to Peter.
"Are you sure you saw them both kiss? I mean, really kissing each other?"

Peter looked puzzled.

"Yes. He started it."

Remus turned to James again, his mouth wide open. James laughed in excitement.

"Jackpot!"

"What is it!" Peter interrupted their one-to-one 'secret'.

"Look," Remus said, leaning over the table towards Peter. "No matter how many girls you've seen around Sirius, he never kissed a single one of them. You see, he has these rules."

James continued Remus' conversation, pointing the things out on his fingers: "No steady relationship, no kissing and he said he'd never fall in love."

"But if he really kissed her…" Remus added. "Gentlemen, I think our dear Padfoot has finally fallen into the hands of love."

"You really think so?" James asked.

"I'm sure of it. He told me that he really liked all those other girls, but that he never really found a woman good enough to kiss… kind of romantic, really…"

"Who is she?" James asked Peter curiously, not really interested in Remus babbling about romance.

"Oh, you know her, alright." Peter said on a determined tone. "She's at Hogwarts and in Gryffindor too. Not our year, though."
"But what does she look like?" James grew a little tired of Peter's vague answers.

"Er-" he turned pink again. "Black-"

"Guys…" Remus started again. He felt guilty towards Sirius about this. If he wanted it to be a secret, he didn't want that for nothing.

"If Sirius feels ready for it, he'll tell us who she is."

"Aren't you curious?" James asked sounding almost shocked.

"Of course I am, but-"

"Well, then." James turned to Peter once again. "Go on. You said she was black?"

"No-ho. She has black hair. Curls."

James let out an excited laugh.

"It's that sevenths year, isn't she?"

Peter presumed she was, so he nodded.

"Yeah, must be," James continued. "She's his type, alright. Dark hair, light eyes, big mouth. Older...!"

"Yes, she is." Remus confirmed. "Her name is Cecelia. He's been in contact with her since last year."

James raised an eyebrow. "How do you know all those things?"

"I watch, dear Prongs. I watch. I've seen him talk to her a couple of times and he behaves differently from his normal behavior when she's around."

"Then why didn't you tell us?"

"Because if he wanted you to know, Prongs, he would tell you himself. Now, if he comes back, we're not going to talk about any of this, alright?"

James sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Alright."

Peter nodded, fidgeting on a beer spill again.

"My parents wanted to leave at half past four." Peter said when the four were together again. They just got out of the pet shop where Sirius had bought (to James' great disgust) some more crickets for Major Muggle.

"And?" James said a bit careless.

"They wanted me to come with them. Sorry."

Sirius looked around.

"Don't they have a 'new parents' shop? Peter and I could do with some, alright."

Remus laughed. "Afraid not."

"Nah. 'Was just kidding." Sirius said, messing up Peter's hair. "But you've still got ten minutes and I still gotta get the tickets. Wanna come along?"

"Yeah, sure."

And so they went back to Quality Quidditch Supplies where Sirius bought his and Remus' tickets. After that, Remus, James and Sirius said goodbye to Peter.

"We'll contact you for the tent." James said.

"Okay."

"See ya." "Bye!" Sirius and Remus said in their turn.

Peter said bye and left with his parents.

"Shall we go for one last drink, then?" Remus suggested.

James and Sirius agreed and they left for a café. Sirius bought them all a butterbeer and soon they were chatting about all kinds of stuff.

"Sirius," Remus said after a while.

"Hm?"

"James wrote me a letter… I know what really happened to your arm." He said, sounding worried.

Sirius looked at Remus, then at James and then back to his muck.

"That's okay." he muttered.

"I'm so sorry to hear all this. I wished you had it better. I really do," Remus continued. "You deserve better."

Sirius shook his head.

"I don't believe in luck, Moony. I will just have to accept that this is my fate."

"Hey," Remus said softly, laying a hand on Sirius' good arm. "Where's the Sirius that never gives up? Where has the strong, always-for-better-possibilities-looking Padfoot's gone?"

Sirius stared at his muck a bit longer. Then he looked at Remus.

"You're right. I shouldn't whine so much."

"You're not whining. It's very logical you feel the things you're feeling at the moment. It's just that you always keep your problems to yourself, while we are desperate to help you." Remus said, sorting all these sentences in the right order. He sighed.

"It's a very natural thing to feel hurt, when people are stabbing you in the back. Especially when they're your parents."

They had eye contact for a moment.

"You're not made to give in, Sirius. It just- doesn't suit you."

Sirius sighed.

"Guess you're right again, Moony. I'll go find a place of my own. Live my own life."

"And we'll help you." James said quite determined.

Sirius smiled.

"I could decorate the whole thing in my style… Everything will be blue."

"And you can eat chicken every night."

"And I can eat chicken every night." Sirius repeated James, laughing.

Then an idea popped in his mind.

"Hey, I could get Mrs Minerva back and finally keep her as a pet."

Remus laughed too, now.

"That's the spirit."

"You think she's still alive?" Sirius asked, turning to Remus.

He smiled. "I don't know. I'll ask it for you."

When it was half past five, James and Sirius said good bye to Remus and returned home themselves. After dinner, they played another game of chess (James won again) and enjoyed themselves some more by watching how Major Muggle kept irritating Colonel Snobby by snapping at his feathers and finally pulling one out.

When they were abed, they chatted some more and finally talked themselves to sleep.