Disclaimer: Nope, not J.K. Rowling, even though I sure could use the money she has made off of us.

A/N: Three more chapters, including this one, and it's taken me so long to get to here, I'm not stopping until I'm finished.

Chapter 38

Summer 1979

We had just been out with Lily and Peter, celebrating the end of my first season as a professional Quidditch player. The Tornadoes had played well, but in our first match of the playoffs our Seeker hadn't been able to watch the snitch, the other teams Seeker, and a bludger all at the same time. With the two Seekers neck and neck, the other team's Beater sent a bludger soaring through the air, and knocked our team's Seeker out of the way. We'd lost, but we had had a good year, and the next one we'd do even better. I was not in the mood to think about the next year's playoff. Hell I wasn't in the mood to think about October, because we had to get through September in order to get to October. I was secretly hoping that the world would end, or just swallow me so that no one else was effected, but I didn't have to do something that would end up killing me.

Lily was an amazing woman, something I had realized years ago, and continued to remind her of. Whenever we were at a bar, and I saw the looks of jealousy one other men's faces as I pretended to be in love with her, I remembered how unfair the life I had asked her into was. She must have really loved me, because to give up her opportunities this early for someone that could only give her what she needed, never what she wanted, was an incredible feat. Sometimes men would have the respect to ask me if they could dance with "my girl," and I would agree.

"Look at her," Remus said as Lily went off with one of the few men that had asked her to dance. We were sitting at the bar, and I did as he ordered, which meant I had to tear my eyes away from Sirius, who was making fun of Peter's poor attempts at asking a woman to dance. Lily's eyes shined as the man told her a joke, and spun her gracefully around the dance floor. "Seems to me a girl like that would know better then to get a ball and chain just yet." He nudged my arm in a manner of two joking friends, but I understood what he was saying. "You're trying to show her that there is more to life then what she's signed up for."

"I'll be greatly heartbroken, but I'll understand if she wants out." I answered. He laughed, keeping up with our charade. The nod he gave me when his laugh had died away told me he understood my coded answer. "She still has time to get out, to have a life that doesn't play second to your fiddle." We shared one of our looks, and my heart clenched at the realization that our life was about to become nothing more then coded messaages and secret looks. I wanted to break our silent agreement, maybe it wasn't a silent agreement, and in that crowded bar say the words that would put a stop to this whole game. It would be so easy too, because I was well used to uttering the words "I love you," in the peace of our home, I could do it in the chaos of that bar.

A woman, that was fairly intoxicated, decided that I shouldn't say those words though, and strolled up to ask Remus for a dance. He smiled in that gentlemanly way that made my heart beat just a little faster, even when it was directed at someone that wasn't me, and walked her towards the dance floor. My jaw spasmed with jealousy, and when I turned away to look at Sirius and Peter I noticed that Sirius was fighting the same emotion I was. I thought it was a little sad that the woman I was supposed to be marrying I could feel happiness for when she was asked to dance, and know that it was all in fun. The man that I shared a bed with every night, even if those nights were numbered, was asked to dance by a woman I knew he had no interest in, and I wanted the woman's hair to burn off. I am a man, a very manly man, and would never say I wanted to claw some woman's eyes out.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Sirius sighed. "What do you think is going to change when you get married?" I looked at him, wondering if he was just this bad at playing with our code, or if he actually thought this was a normal question for a best man to ask the groom a month before the wedding. His face said their was more behind that question, which meant it was supposed to be one of our codes. I had to think about how he had just worded his question before I could figure out what the hidden part was, when I realized that his question was completely reasonable for one best friend to ask another. The coded part was, "do you think Remus will want me after you're gone."

"Nothing," I answered, feeling the lie. Everything was going to change after I married Lily, but the coded answer was the important part. "Yes, he'll still want you. You two will get married, and I'll play best man just like you are doing for me." His face twisted in an expression that clearly stated that he wanted me to be his best man about as much as he wanted to be mine. We shared a laugh, though neither one of us could figure out what we were laughing at. While we were having our conversation, Peter had gone to ask another woman for a dance, using some of Sirius' helpful hints. Sirius was definitely a bisexual man, because Remus had a lot more luck with women then Sirius did. I don't know how my mutt hadn't ever lost his piggishness, but the evidence that it was still there came when the woman Peter was talking to splashed a glass in his face.

We drank and danced for a few more hours, but eventually Lily and Peter had to go to their respective homes. Sirius, Remus, and I thought about hanging out at the bar for a few more hours, but we all were getting a little tired. Remus was working double time in order to prepare for his next exhibit, his third since he'd decided he wanted to be an artist. Sirius had gotten off of work, changed quickly, and then we had gone to the bar to met up with Lily and Peter. I wasn't really tired from any actual work, more the stress of the upcoming nuptuals combined with coming off of the adrenaline rush I had been living in since March. We still wanted to be out and about for a little while, and decided that walking home from the pub in Diagon Alley was a good idea.

I loved walking with them when there was no one else around, because I could press whichever one I was craving up against a wall, and snog them senseless without any judging eyes to see. We had been walking for a few minutes when a desperate need for Remus drove me to press him against a window, and draw him into a hungry kiss. Sirius must have liked what he saw in the window, the reflection I mean, because while Remus' tongue danced with mine, Sirius' trailed up and down my neck. Hands moved against bodies, and hips rubbed against hips, while we pressed each other more and more into that window. Shivers traveled down spines, and moans escaped lips as we fought to be the one that brought each other the most pleasure. I wonder if we were selfish knowing that if was more a turn on to know that the others were feeling pleasure, or if it was selflessness that made us want to bring the others that pleasure.

We were getting ourselves very excited, when we heard one of the many words we didn't approve of hearing. This was a new one, but was still just as enraging as words like "faggot" and "mudblood" and "half-breed," I really hate that last one. "Oh, are you a filthy plyg, Son?" We heard a scarily familiar voice ask, and Sirius and I felt Remus freeze underneath us. The growl had us moving backwards quickly, to give our werewolf the room he needed to finish what he had started over half a year ago. Sirius' eyes latched onto the broken ring of a bit mark that would never go away that Remus' shirt hid well, most of the time. After our little activity, the undone buttons had made his blue shirt fall so that the mark was clearly visible. "Nasty scar you got there," Fenrir said with an evil grin, "how'd you get it?"

"Damn well know how I got it." Remus growled, and I felt Sirius tense behind me. He knew, just as well as I did, that Remus was sick of Fenrir popping out of the shadows when he was least wanted or expected. This would be the fourth time that Fenrir had popped out of the shadows, and two out of the three he had left Remus with a mark that would never go away. We figured that the many other marks that littered our lover's body made up for the one time that he hadn't been left with a mark. This time it was Remus' turn to leave Fenrir with a mark that showed him that Remus wasn't only the better man, becase that much was obvious, but that Remus was the better wolf.

"Fenrir," A voice that was even more familiar, and even more scary then Fenrir's called from the shadows. A figure in a black cloak stepped out of where the voice had come from, and long, pale hands moved to lift the hood away from the face. Sirius stumbled, and my jaw dropped when we saw what Tom Riddle had turned into. I would never call Voldermort by his given name ever again, because that was the name of a human. This bald, pale-skinned, red-eyed thing, with a face that could only be decribed as snake-like, wasn't a human, it couldn't be. "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's not polite to play with your food?" It asked as it placed a hand on Fenrir's shoulder, and smiled in what may have once been a charming way at Remus.

"Get the hell away from him." I ordered when I saw this creature looking at my lover. I wondered if I had made a mistake, but didn't truly care when it turned away from Remus and to me. Sirius tensed even more behind me, but it was time we tried to take care of this creature while Remus fought his own demon. I had once wondered what the face of evil would look like, and as red eyes flashed with something, that red eyes wouldn't be able to truly convey, I decided I had figured it out. The face of evil was snake-like, and anything but human.

"James," Voldermort sighed, and the clench in my stomach assured me that this was still what used to be Tom Riddle. This was still the one that killed my parents, even if saying that this was the man that killed my parents may have been an inaccurate description. "How are you?" It asked in that cool, charming way that it always tried to talk to me in. The sick feeling I got when I met with him was back too. "I heard throught the grapevine that you're getting ready to marry a mudblood. Do these two know?" It tried to smile.

Sirius, wonderful, beautiful man that I love with everything I am, decide that that would be the appropriate time to shift awkwardly. Voldermort's eyes glanced at him, and the attempt at what may pass at a smile grew. There were many similarities between this thing, and Tom Riddle, and the coldness in its expression was one of them. Tom may have been a somewhat charming individual, but he was still a cold man. "They do, they know you're getting married to a filthy little mudblood, and yet they still kiss you in the darkness of the night." A sound that could have passed for a chilling laugh echoed across the street. "Though I guess that is the only place they could kiss you isn't it James? You know I always wondered what this love shit was, and I guess you three have answered it. It's a weakness that makes you give up your power for a life of shame and filth."

It took me a second, but I realized what he had just said. What I did with my lovers was shameful, he hinted. What I did with my lovers was filthy, he insinuated. Sirius must have gathered what this creature was saying, because before I had the chance to reach for my wand, he had cast a hex at the cloaked figure. I was moving towards my wand quickly, but not quick enough. Voldermort had grabbed his, blocked Sirius' hex, and sent his own spell towards my lover. Sirius had yanked me out of the way, cast a "protego" and followed with another of his own spells. I froze as I watched Sirius become something I knew he was, but never had completely understood.

I'm a Potter, and that is a fairly influential wizarding family. We have power that comes from our history, but we are not a powerful family. The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black is powerful, and most of that power is dark. Black magic has been used through so many generations of that family that some of it has been tied into their blood. Power runs through all wizards and witches, and sometimes there are powerful witches and wizards that are muggle-borns. The more generations of wizarding blood in your family history the more power runs through your own blood. I am from a powerful house, it's just the Potters really are no more powerful then the Weasleys, the Malfoys, the Lestranges, the Shacklebolts. Even Dumbledore didn't really have any more power then I do when he was my age, the power he has now is something he had to mold and shape. The Blacks, thats power, but it's not a power that Sirius usually messes with.

As he cast spell after spell, and dodged Voldermort's own hexes, I knew he was rellying on that power. Sirius has always been beautiful, as though he were a prince that stepped right out of a fairytale and into my life. I believe that I will never think of a prince battling a dragon the same way after I watched Sirius fight Voldermort. It was like the darkness of this creature that had once been Tom Riddle, and the Black power that was rippling through Sirius at that moment had combined to cast this whole new aura on my lover. He was more beautiful in the minutes that he helped me defy Voldermort for the third time in my very short, young life then I had ever remembered seeing him before. Voldermort had a hard time accepting it, but he wasn't going to get past the young Black heir in order to get me.

"Join me Sirius," He offered as he paused the fight. "You have great power, and I can help you become the ruler of this world with that power. I can teach you how to make sure you have everything you want, and can keep everything you have." He tried to promise. Sirius is one of those people that believes pausing a fight to have a little chat is the most annoying thing anyone could attempt to do. So with a dark look tossed at the creature that once was Tom Riddle, he started sending more hexes and spells. Voldermort didn't wait long in dodging and trying to take back the offense, though I don't think he kept that very long in the first place. "Think about it Sirius, think about getting to walk down the street with your lovers in your arms and no one being able to say a word against you."

"Think about this, you ugly, weak goon," Sirius growled annoyed. "If I was to join you, I would lose my lovers in a blink of an eye. You call me weak for feeling love, and so do the people that gave me the power I have to keep fighting you like this. I am stronger then any of you will ever be though, because while you fight to prove yourself of your power, I fight for something much better. I fight for a purpose, a reason. I fight you so that when the one with the power to take you out finally does so, I can go home to these two beautiful men, and live in the peace you refuse to allow us." I don't know what Sirius had done to tick Voldermort off so thoroughly, but with a growl of his own Voldermort spun around, and with his cloak billowing behind him, he left.

"I am not your son, you disgusting, evil little man." I heard my other lover shout. We both turned to see Remus standing over the cowaring form of Fenrir Greyback. Both of them were bloody and bruised, but it was obvious that Remus had at least proven he was Fenrir's equal. "I'll bear your marks, and your curse until it kills me, but I am not you. I am nothing like you. I have a family, and you have nothing. I have knowledge of magic, and you have nothing. I am a king compared to you, and you are nothing. You are nothing, and I refuse to let you keep thinking you have control in my life. I am good, and fair, and just, and you are evil. I will not take a life, even if it as pathetic as yours. I have the right to do so since you cursed me, but I wont. Now leave, before I change my mind." Listening to the growl in Remus' voice, I knew that he had definitely proven himself just as powerful as the older werewolf. Fenrir realized this too, and with a whimper worthy of the injured dog he is, he scattered.

A/N: Damn James, your men are powerful. What did you all think? I love to hear your comments.