Chapter 7: New Beginnings

James smiled and leaned in to capture Remus's pouty lips in a kiss. Remus smiled into the kiss and then rested his head on James's shoulder.

The darker-haired boy wrapped his arms around his smaller friend and then laid them both down on the bed. James kissed Remus's head and whispered "I love you."

Remus bit his lip and whispered back "I love you too."

James swallowed and took a deep breath. Remus had a feeling that something big was coming.

"Remus?" James asked, wondering if the other boy had fallen asleep yet.

"Yes?" Remus replied, feeling a little nervous.

"Will you marry me?" Remus sat up bolt right and James followed suit. He looked at Remus's stunned expression and took that as a sign that he didn't want to.

He felt hurt but tried to hide it as he said, "Umm, look, I shouldn't have asked, of course you don't want to get married. What was I thinking."

Remus just stared for a second before saying "Oh, shut up, James," and pulling him into a kiss filled with so much passion and love that it almost felt ethereal.

James looked at Remus when it was over and saw that he was smiling. James smiled in return. "So, does this mean?" He asked, wanting to make sure.

Remus nodded, "Yes, James Potter, I will marry you." James grinned widened from ear to ear, matching with the one of Remus's face.

They kissed again, and again, and again. This was perfect. After minutes more of smiling and laughing and kissing, they finally lied down on the bed.

They ended up falling asleep in each other's arms listening to one another's heartbeats with smiles playing across both of their faces.

XXX

Sirius was gritting his teeth in his four-poster bed. He had heard everything and he was not happy. He couldn't believe that James would do that to him.

Sure, James had been angry with him, but they had been best friends before that. Didn't that count for anything? It didn't matter now.

James had taken the man that Sirius loved and Sirius deal with it. He had to get away. Somewhere, Anywhere.

He just had to be far away from the two boys sleeping in the bed next to his. He got up, pulled on his pants, and walked out the door as quietly as he could.

He didn't want to wake them up because he didn't think that he could see them now, without starting to cry or killing James.

He walked through the castle in a daze. This had all seemed so surreal to him. He suddenly felt nauseous for what he did to Remus.

He had felt bad before, but now he knew just how badly it hurt and he wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy.

Ok, well maybe he would wish it on Snape, but he didn't even count. He was too slimy and greasy to have feelings anyway.

He kept walking, not sure of where he was going, and hardly aware of the fact that tears had escaped his eyes and were now cascading down his cheeks.

He was only bumped back into reality when he ran into something, no, it was more like someone. He looked up, confused and saw Lily Evans.

She stared at him in shock. Here was Sirius Black, the ladies' man, the tough guy, crying his eyes out. What was she suppose to do?

She contemplated just leaving him there to deal with it on his own, after all, he had never been that caring of a guy to anyone else, but found that she just couldn't do it.

The compassion in her was screaming out to comfort the boy in front of her, who was obviously hurt, in some way.

"What's wrong?" She asked quietly. It seemed like such a stupid question, but she figured she better start from the beginning. He gave a pathetic, hollow laugh.

"What's wrong? Oh, nothing. Just that I cheated on my Remus, broke his heart and now I feel completely guilty. Not to mention the fact that my so-called friend, James, has now added insult to injury by stealing Remus from me. He claims he loves him and Remus says he loves him too and now they are getting fucking married! So, nothing, nothing at all is wrong!"

His voice had gotten progressingly louder, and he was screaming by the time he was done. Lily stared at him in silence.

She always thought that James liked her, but now that she thought about it, it was so obvious that she wasn't really sure why she had never seen it before.

James had always loved Remus. The way he looked at Remus with such longing, and how he was always 'accidentally' touching him.

The way James let his guard done when he thought that no one was looking and love had shown in his eyes, as he blatantly stared at Remus, without even worrying to see if anyone else noticed, and then when Remus would look back at him, a blush would creep onto his cheeks.

She was lost in her own thoughts, but was knocked back into the present moment from the sound of Sirius choking back his sobs.

She went towards the weeping boy and embraced him in her arms. He cried onto her shoulder until she could feel the wetness soaking through her shirt.

She knew that he must feel horrible and she felt pity for him. But more than that, for the first time, she saw him, I mean really saw him.

Without the tough guy mask that he put on and the cool exterior. He was human, and like every human, he had feelings. Feelings that were hurt, almost beyond repair.

She whispered words of comfort in his ear. Finally, he backed away and looked up at her while trying to wipe the tears away.

He wasn't sure if it was the light, or the fact that she had been the only one there for him when he needed someone the most, but she looked beautiful.

More beautiful than anyone he had ever seen. Her hair was down and falling around her shoulders and her eyes shined brightly. But more than anything, it was like the beauty was radiating off her.

He didn't take time to think or question his actions. He just leaned in a pressed his lips softly but firmly against hers.

She just stood there for a minute without doing anything. Sirius started to pull away, thinking that he had made a terrible mistake, when she finally started kissing back.

Sirius wrapped his arms around her waist and she put her arms around his neck. He wasn't sure how this was possible. He thought that he was gay, but this just felt too right for that to be the case.

Remus had been his first love and Sirius had tricked himself into believing that he was the only one he would ever love.

But this kiss made him realize that there were a lot of people (men and women) that he had never been with.

How did he know that he wouldn't fall in love with them if he gave it the chance? Maybe he could live without Remus after all…

Or maybe not.

A/N: Dun dun dun. Lol. Anyway, I know that I already posted this chapter but I thought about it, and I just didn't like it. James and Remus have had enough trouble for one story. So, I decided to rewrite it and make this the end. I added the 'or maybe not' thing at the end just in case I decided to make a sequel, but that is entirely up to you. So, what do you think? Thanks for everyone who stuck with this story and reviewed. It means a lot to me. So please review this one last time! Let me know if you want a sequel.