Title: Glass Hearts

Rating: PG-13

Summary (of chapter): James turns eighteen.

At the Potter's house on the thirtieth of March, the Gryffindors were having fun decorating. Remus had brought his parents, a present, and an assortment of streamers. Peter helped Mary set up the drinks table, the two of them wondering if the Potters would care about all of the alcoholic drinks Sirius had brought. Lily made a banner while Mrs. Potter worked on the cake in the kitchen, chatting politely with the Lupins.

Sirius turned on a Hobgoblins record. Mary groaned. "Come on, Sirius!" she exclaimed.

"What, you don't enjoy hearing the voices of the wizards you've snogged?" Sirius asked, grinning. He began helping Remus put streamers up around the room. After a bit of discussion, they changed them to red and gold.

Guests began coming into the house. Lily had decided not to send invitations after the guest list had gotten too large. It was much more informal. The Mufflet girls came over with their parents. Marlene showed up with her older brothers. Frank, Alice, Candace, Debra, and others came. Soon, the downstairs of the house was full of people. There were various bands playing through the record player. Sirius had designated himself the DJ.

Mrs. Potter brought her cake out, hoping it was big enough for everyone. If it weren't, there was plenty of candy Sirius and Lily had brought. Everyone grabbed drinks and started the party without James and his dad. People mingled, talking to people they hadn't seen for a while. Students talked with each other, even though they had seen each other only a few days ago.

Lily walked around the party, a butterbeer in her hand. Marlene looked like she was having a good time with Frank and Alice, even though Remus sat across from them on the armchair. Sirius and Jewel were playing around with the records. Everyone looked like they were having fun.

"Lily," Mrs. Potter said, taking the redhead's arm. "Come here, I'd like to introduce you to some people."

"Oh, okay," Lily said, smiling.

"This is Gerta Catchlove," Mrs. Potter said. "Herbert and I went to school with her."

"Nice to meet you," Lily said, shaking the hand of the elderly woman. "I'm Lily Evans."

"It's very nice to meet you," Gerta said. "I hear you and James are going steady."

"Yeah, we are," Lily said with a smile.

Mrs. Potter put her hand on Lily's shoulder. "This was all her idea," she said.

"Really?" Gerta said brightly. "Wonderful!"

Mrs. Potter introduced her to some other people; Elphias Doge, Grugwyn Jones, and a few other family friends. Lily felt as though she were Mrs. Potter's daughter, and the woman wanted to show her off.

Around eight thirty, Mr. Potter's Patronus, in the form of a stag, galloped through the front door to Lily and Mrs. Potter. Lily couldn't believe how remarkably alike James's Patronus was to his father's. "James and I are on our way," Mr. Potter's voice came out of the stag.

Everyone started to quiet down. Sirius switched off the music. Mrs. Potter dimmed the lights, and everyone turned towards the front door. After a few minutes of silence, the door opened. James walked in, laughing.

The room suddenly filled with noise. Everyone yelled their surprise, and a few people waved their wands to make noise. James's eyes widened, and then he laughed again. He glanced at his dad, who clapped him on the back. "Oh, man!" he exclaimed. "This is awesome! Whose idea was this?"

"It was all Lily!" Sirius yelled.

"Awwww," a few people echoed.

James met Lily's eyes and smiled at her.

They sang to James and cut the cake. The party picked up after that. Someone had a camera and was snapping pictures left and right. James gave Lily a big hug, and then smeared frosting on her face. She had chased him through the house before finally getting him back by getting ice cream up his nose. They then hid in the bathroom for a while to clean up. Once they emerged, he walked around and talked to people. He introduced Lily to more people whom she hadn't met. He took pictures with nearly everyone at the party. They played drinking games, ignoring the fact that most of their parents were there. Most of them were legal, anyways. A few couples snuck off to snog. Mary fell asleep on the couch, an empty bottle of firewhiskey in her hand.

Marlene and Remus sat on one of the couches alone after Frank and Alice got up to go talk to the McKinnon brothers. "So. . ." Remus trailed off. "How have you been?"

"All right," Marlene said with a shrug. "How are you?"

"Fine," Remus said. "NEWT year is killing me, that's all."

"Only a few months left," Marlene said with an optimistic tone.

"Yeah," Remus said, nodding. "Crazy, huh?"

"I won't see you anymore," Marlene said.

Remus glanced over at her. She was looking at James's coffee table, twirling her firewhiskey in her hand. She looked really nice tonight. Her long hair was pulled into two plaits and she wore a pretty necklace that rested on her skin right above the neckline of her green shirt. "You'll see me in the summer," he said, trying to keep it light.

Marlene glanced at him, biting her lip. "That's true," she said. "We haven't really hung out over the last month. You know, I think this might be the first time I talked to you since. . ."

They looked away from each other. Remus ran a hand through his hair. "I know," he said. "I wish things weren't so. . ."

"Complicated?" Marlene finished for him.

"Yeah," Remus agreed.

Marlene took one of Remus's hands. His heart skipped a beat. "Remus," she said. "I. . .is there any chance we could go somewhere and talk?"

"Talk?" Remus repeated, as though he had never heard the word.

"Somewhere where there's not a lot of people," Marlene said.

"Okay," Remus said. "Sure."

He stood up, his hand slipping out of Marlene's. He glanced into the kitchen. Mrs. Potter was laughing with his mum by the stove. He walked towards the steps with Marlene. Sirius gave him a thumb's up as the two of them went upstairs, and Remus just shook his head.

Upstairs, there were three wizards sitting by the bathroom, laughing. Remus was sure they were drunk. He glanced around. "You want to go into Sirius's room?" he asked.

He pushed open the door to Sirius's room. It was, surprisingly, not too messy. It had only been three days. His trunk was open at the foot of his double-sized bed. His covers were a mess, a pillow on the floor. There were pictures scattered around the room and a few Quidditch magazines.

"Is this, um, too awkward?" Remus asked.

Marlene shrugged, glancing round. "Don't worry about it," she said. "I just. . .I don't know if I've just had too much firewhiskey or what. But I just wanted to talk to you."

"Okay," Remus said, putting his hands in his pockets.

Marlene stared at Sirius's bed. After a moment of hesitation, she said, "Are you a werewolf?"

A moment of dead silence followed her question. They could hear the music downstairs and the voices from the wizards in the hall. Marlene looked at the ground as though it would answer her instead of Remus. Remus scratched the back of his neck. "Um, what would make you think that?" he asked.

Marlene met his eyes. "Well, you're gone at least once a month," she said. "You get sick or you go home or you just miss a few classes. And then, you know, there's - um, your scars. And the Shrieking Shack and the Whomping Willow."

Remus nodded. "I, uh. . ." he trailed off. "I'm not. . ."

"Don't tell me you're not, Remus," Marlene said tensely. " I know - I just know that this is it. If I asked you if you were a werewolf and you weren't, you would have just said so."

"Okay, fine," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "I'm a werewolf."

Marlene nodded. She bit her lip. "That's what I thought," she said.

There was another moment of silence between them. Remus wanted to crawl into Sirius's bed and he wanted Marlene to go downstairs and find herself a boy and move on.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Marlene asked.

"You're kidding, right?" Remus asked. "Why would I tell you?"

"Why wouldn't you?" Marlene asked.

"Because people don't like werewolves," Remus said. "They don't trust werewolves. Especially after Voldemort found out a way to change them without a full moon."

"I'm not one of those people," Marlene said quickly.

"And how was I supposed to know that?" Remus asked. "You're sixteen years old. You're just. . ."

"Just what?" Marlene asked angrily.

Remus threw his arms up, at a loss for words. "I don't know," he said. "Just - you have wizarding parents and you're . . ."

Marlene pursed her lips. Remus could tell she was getting more annoyed by the second.

"I don't know," he repeated. "I was scared. You don't have to act like I'm an idiot for it."

"I'm - I don't think that," Marlene said. "I just thought that you'd trust me enough. I mean, why did you tell Lily?"

"I didn't," Remus said indignantly. "She found it out, too."

Marlene scoffed. "So, it's okay to be Lily's best friend, but there's something wrong with me -" she began.

Remus shook his head. "Don't put words in my mouth," he said. "I never said that or felt that."

"So?" Marlene asked. "What makes her any different?"

"I know she's going to stick around because she's with James," Remus admitted. "And why does it matter? I broke up with you, okay? And it's just better this way."

Suddenly, Remus realized she was crying. Her eyes shone with tears, and those tears slowly began to trickle down her cheeks. He stared at her in horror. "Don't cry," he said. "I just. . .I didn't want this to happen."

Marlene wiped her face, embarrassed. "Just don't worry about it," she said. "I'm going to go downstairs, and we'll pretend like this never happened, okay?"

Remus shook his head. "I don't want to do that," he said.

"I do," Marlene said. She started to back away. "At least for now, until things make more sense. I just. . .I have to go downstairs." She walked out of Sirius's bedroom, leaving him alone.

Remus sighed, collapsing onto Sirius's bed. He stared up at Sirius's ceiling. What was it with him and girls? It seemed like every girl he touched turned into unavailable, whether due to him or her or some other indistinguishable force in the universe that wanted him to die alone.

The door flung open. Remus sat up to see Sirius and Candace walking in, holding hands. Sirius raised his eyebrows at Remus. "Remus," he said. "You're in my room."

"Thank you, captain obvious," Remus said shortly, standing up. "Don't worry, I'm leaving."

Sirius put an arm on Candace's shoulders, smirking. She smiled up at him as though Remus wasn't in the room. Remus glanced at Sirius, wondering if he was just too pissed to realize he had the wrong blonde.

"Um," Remus said, walking to the door. "Have fun."

"You, too," Sirius said. "Shut the door behind you."

Remus nodded, closing the door as he went into the hallway. He stood there for a moment, then shook his head like a dog drying himself off before joining the party again.

Downstairs, Remus felt out of place. He felt like he should be at home reading a book. He glanced over at the forgotten gifts on the kitchen counter. He had bought James a few comic books. Maybe he could just sneak out of the party. They had been here for almost two hours, and he had already talked with James.

While considering this, Lily called over to him from the kitchen table. "Remus, come play!"

Remus walked over to a group of people reluctantly. "What are you playing?" he asked.

"It's a card game called Spoons," Lily told him. She was always teaching the students at Hogwarts Muggle games with a standard 52-card deck or marbles or anything she could. "Grab a seat and sit down."

About seven people started playing a crazy game where people reached for spoons in the middle of the table. Everyone laughed, and Remus was the third person to be eliminated from the game. He watched while Lily won.

"You've got an unfair advantage!" James said indignantly. "You've played this game before!"

"Let's play again, then," Lily said.

Lily won a second time, but the third game, Doug McKinnon won. He threw up his arms, cheering.

They started playing other card games, including Poker and The Name Game. James started showing everyone magic tricks, and soon he had a small crowd around him. He reveled in the attention, charming everyone. He pulled a card out of Lily's ear, then made one appear in Remus's pants. "Very funny," he said as everyone around them howled with laughter.

"Queen of Spades," James said, grinning. "That means you'll be getting some luck with the ladies soon."

"Great," Remus said. "Just what I need."

Around midnight, people slowly started to leave. Remus noticed the Mufflet twins had already left. He thought about Sirius and wondered if he was having a good time without Jewel.

Sirius saw a small smile on Candace's face when he pulled away from a long kiss. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"Nothing," Candace said, her smile widening. "You just sort of kiss like James."

Sirius stared at her. "What?" he asked.

Candace put her hands on his shoulders, looking up at him. "I don't know," she said. "You guys sort of have a similar way of kissing."

"I'll take you places James hasn't even thought of," he said in a low voice.

Sirius stooped down and kissed her again. Minutes passed while their hands traveled around. Sirius was buzzed from the firewhiskey and everything seemed slower. She felt and moved much different from Jewel. While Jewel moved languidly, like water, Candace was more like fire.

After a while, he noticed an uncomfortable look on Candace's face.

"Are you all right?" Sirius asked.

Candace looked away from him, but it was evident that she was crying. Sirius gazed at her for a moment. Then he sat up, unsure about what to say or do. He lifted the blanket up a little bit, uncovering her torso. She had taken her shirt off twenty minutes ago; it now lay on his ground.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly. He felt her hand on his thigh. "I just. . .I mean. . .are you still going out with Jewel?"

Sirius shrugged. "Sort of," he said.

Candace frowned. She sat up as well. "What does that mean?" she asked.

"We're kind of falling apart," Sirius said.

"But have you actually broken up with her?" Candace asked.

"No," Sirius said.

Candace looked towards the door. Sirius set his back up against his headboard. Adrenaline was still rushing through his veins, but he also knew that somehow, the mood had been killed.

"I don't want to have sex with you if she's still your girlfriend," Candace said flatly.

Sirius nodded. "That makes sense," he said. He took her hand. "But who said we were going to have sex?"

Candace gave him an annoyed look. "Look," she said. "I'm not Mary, okay?"

"That's the reason I'm kissing you," Sirius said.

"So, you'll just kiss anyone who's not Mary?" Candace asked. "Anything that moves?"

"No," Sirius said indignantly. "I'm just saying. . .look, I just thought we could have some fun."

Candace set her head up against the headboard, looking toward the ceiling. The nape of her neck shone in the dim light. His eyes trailed down her body, over her full breasts and her stomach. She heaved a sigh, her chest moving up and then down.

"You're really fun," she said. "I mean, you're a great kisser. But I don't really want to be the school slut."

Sirius nodded. He scratched the top of his head, sighing a little bit. "I knew this was a bad idea," he said.

"Me, too," Candace said.

She stood up. She zipped up her tight jeans. She reached down and picked up her patterned top. She wiped her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just. . .I can't imagine what my dad would say if he knew I was fooling around with a guy who already had a girlfriend."

Sirius nodded, grabbing a new shirt from his wardrobe. "It was fun while it lasted," he said.

When he turned around, Candace was sitting on the bed, fully clothed, pulling on her shoes. He walked over to her and sat next to her. "If you ever want to have more fun. . ." he trailed off, hoping the implication would be enough.

"Right," Candace said. "If you ever break up with Jewel. . ."

"Right," Sirius said. He pulled on his boots. "Let me walk you back downstairs."

The two of them left his room. Candace visited the bathroom, then they walked downstairs. Mary walked over to them. "What were you two doing?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sirius said. He put his hand on Candace's back. "I'll see you ladies later."

He walked over to James, who was sitting with Frank Longbottom in the corner of the living room. "What's up?" he asked, sitting down next to James.

"Frank's been telling me about his year," James said.

"D'you really skip training?" Sirius asked, taking James's firewhiskey.

"I kinda did, yeah," Frank said. "I mean, I'm not trusted with the same level of trust as most of the Aurors, but I still get sent on assignments."

"So, what do you think will take Voldemort down?" Sirius asked.

Frank sighed a little bit. "Who knows?" he said. "Every witch or wizard who has come up against him isn't alive to tell about it. It seems like he doesn't have any weaknesses."

"Everyone does, though," James said. "I mean, he's not immortal."

"That we know of," Frank said. He ran a hand through his curly blonde hair.

He looked years older. Frank had always been the boyish popular Gryffindor. Everyone loved him. Everyone knew he should have been made Head Boy, too, instead of Aubrey. But now, his eyes were a bit darker, as though he had seen things that still gave him nightmares. He held himself differently.

Sirius took another drink of James's firewhiskey, the liquid burning all the way down his throat. "Only a few months," he told James.

Frank looked over at Alice. "I don't want Alice to go into training," he said.

"Why not?" James asked.

"There's just too much," Frank said. "And I don't want her to get hurt. I mean, I know she's amazing, but it's hell out there."

Sirius glanced at Alice. She was dancing with Emma Short, laughing. Frank sighed, running a hand through his hair again. "Don't worry, mate," Sirius said. "Me and James will look after her."

A/N: Oh, Sirius, what are we going to do with you? hope you guys enjoyed the chapters - please review!

Next time: Sirius and James turn in their Auror applications, and James and Lily go to Petunia's wedding. Fun abounds with the Evans family!