Four
It took less than three seconds after James woke up for Minerva to lecture him on how thoughtless and irresponsible it was for him to go out on his own.
“You could have gotten yourself killed! You completely ignored rank and protocol! I specifically told you that you would go on a mission when you are ready. Heavens, when your mother hears about this she is going to have my head! I promised her I would keep you safe, James, you can’t go out recklessly putting yourself directly in harm's way!”
Jame’s winced when he tried to sit up in his bed. He could tell that the staff healer had already done some work on him, and that he'd have loads of paperwork to do once he’s well enough.
“Stupid! Arrogant! Impulsive!” McGonagall continued, each word cutting deeper than the previous. “The agency could suspend you for this.”
James' heart dropped. If he got suspended then he would definitely be unable to prove himself before the mission teams were deployed. He had accidentally gotten the exact opposite reaction than the one he wanted!
Minerva paused and took a deep breath, “However,” She began. James’ head shot up. Usually there wasn’t a ‘however’ with McGonagall. Usually, she just rattled off your crimes and how disappointed she was with you.
McGonagall continued. “The man you apprehended was on HUF’s most wanted list, his name was The Exterminator. He has killed countless heroes and civilians. Which, in my opinion, means that you should be severely disciplined. You could have been another hero that fell to his hands. But, HUF was impressed. They said that any trainee that could take on a most wanted criminal didn’t need any more training. And although I begged them to reconsider-” Minerva took a breath, “They want the boy who took down The Exterminator to be on the look for the Etas. James Potter. You are now in Group A Team Epsilon. Congratulations.”
James was silent. He could hardly believe what he was hearing. It worked! He did it! He could go out on his first mission with his friends! James’ shocked demeanor instantly vanished and he jumped out of his seat.
“Are you kidding me!?” He asked.
Minerva looked at him, wearily. “I don’t believe that we should reward insolence. But, you did good James. You saved a woman, and although you were seriously hurt, I believe that with a team to back you up, you could go on to catch even more criminals on the most wanted list.”
James nearly teared up. He ran forward and caught McGonagall in an embrace. She stiffened but then relaxed into the hug, placing her arms around him.
“Thank you, McGonagall.” He muttered.
“Don’t thank me, I tried to dissuade them.” She stated.
“Thank you anyway. Thank you for teaching me what I needed to know to beat him. Thank you for showing me how to be a Hero.”
It was now Minerva’s turn to be quiet. Her grip on him tightened for a moment before she pulled away and coughed.
“You will no longer be training under me, James. I can only hope I have prepared you as much as you claim that I have. Once you are out of the Infirmary, you will find that they have switched your dorm to Section 2, Hero Tier 5. All of your items have already been moved. I ensured that your dorm would be next to Sirius’.”
James gasped. “You did? Thank you.” He turned towards his bed and limped over. His leg was still broken and it felt like his ribs were too. He shouldn’t have gotten up so quickly. McGonagall let out a quiet laugh behind him.
“Still feeling sore, I see.” She said, “That is to be expected. Coming back from the brink of death never feels too good. The medic will be with you shortly, once she finishes healing you then you can go to your new home. However, you’ll likely be here for two more days or so. Now since I have completed informing you of your new life, I’ll go grab the people you are to share it with.”
Before James could ask what she meant, Sirius ran through the door.
“There you are, you dumbass!” Sirius said, running up and punching James’ broken arm. James sucked in through his teeth. “You almost died! Holy shit, I was worried sick!”
Remus, Lily, and Mary came through the door, one after the other.
—--
“Love me, love me, Say that you love me.” James and Sirius sang at the same time. Remus wolf whistled. Mary signaled for a lap dance from Sirius. Lily whooped and threw one dollar bills on the floor.
“Fool me, fool me. Go on and fool me.” Sirius twerked in Mary’s direction, blew a kiss, and twirled James.
“Love me, love me. I know that you love me.” James fell from Sirius’ abrupt end of twirling. He landed on his knees. Just in time for Sirius to go on his knees as well and do jazz hands. James followed suit, so they both waved their hands to the ending line, “I don’t care ‘bout anyone but youuuu.”
The group sang the last word together, then all laughed. They were shitfaced, drunk out of their minds.
Lily, Remus, and Mary gave a standing ovation. In response, Sirius puked his guts out and proceeded to pass out, face first in the puddle. The entire group yelped and stepped back. Remus then massaged his forehead and picked Sirius up, “All right. I think that officially ends our night out.” James couldn’t stop laughing at the sudden shift of energy, and Lily booed Remus, throwing a dollar bill at his head.
Tonight is the last night that the group will be on HUF’s territory until they find the Etas. James’ body was back to normal thanks to one of HUF’s healers. There are a bunch of them stationed within every Infirmary to make sure that everybody is safe. When people spar with powers, people will sometimes get crazy injuries. For example after sparring with James you might get burnt, with Lily you might get poison ivy and thorns stuck in your body, and Remus might bite you as a wolf. Everybody has their own injuries to give, and HUF can’t rush somebody to the hospital every time they spar.
The group walked back to their dorms together. Lily and Mary went off to the girl’s side while James and Remus took Sirius to his own dorm. After Remus laid Sirius down, he spent a bit too long looking at Sirius’ sleeping form. James coughed to remind Remus that he had company. Remus snapped out of it. He and James left the room.
Before James could go next door to his dorm, Remus reached out and took his hand. James looked at him.
“James.” Remus said, he paused for a moment. “I just wanted to say congrats. For making it on the team. I know that I lectured you as soon as I saw you, but I really am glad you're going with us. This will be our first long term mission without Peter, so hopefully you can help pick up some slack. I know how powerful you can be.”
James couldn’t help but blush.
“I- uh- thanks, Remus. I’m excited to be working with you guys, too.”
Remus smiled and then turned away, heading for his room. “Goodnight.” He said.
“Night.” James said in response. He lingered at his doorway, looking at Remus’ turned back, before he smiled and went into his room.
____
The next morning James woke up at 5:30 out of excitement. He packed his bags, which he hadn’t done before even though Remus had constantly been nagging him to. He packed two weeks worth of shirts, shorts, pants, socks, and underwear. He brought a sketchbook because he liked drawing landscapes, even though he wasn’t really good at it. He also brought a couple magazines and a bathing suit, because you never know.
At 5:50 he was all packed and had nothing to do until 11, when they left. He was beginning to regret waking up so early. He began pacing around his room. He killed time by unpacking and repacking everything multiple times, putting everything back nicely folded. After he memorized where everything down to his least favorite pair of underpants was, he decided to do something else. He grabbed his sketchbook from the top of the suitcase and drew pictures of him and all of his friends kicking villain’s asses. When he finished that, he moved on to playing a VR game. It was a simulation for practice, but he used it so much that he knew each level and every movement that the characters would take. He played through all twelve levels and when he went to check the time, it was only 6:40.
James sighed and resigned himself to trying to fall back asleep, but he gave up 5 minutes in. James decided, fuck it, he would go wake up Sirius and talk to him. James walked into Sirius’ room and sat on the corner of his bed.
“Sirius.” He whispered. He gently shook his shoulder. “Darling Boy. Sweet Cheeks. Honey Bunny. Wake up.” He took Sirius’s cheeks and lightly slapped them.
“Sirius, it’s time to get up.” James said, a bit louder. Sirius grunted.
“Sirius!” James yelled. Sirius peeked his eyes open.
“What?” He asked.
“Up and at ‘em. It’s time to pack.” James said in response.
“I'm already packed.” Sirius turned to the side, away from James.
“Bullshit.” James said, pulling Sirius back towards him. “You never pack for trips until ten minutes before it’s time to go.”
“Yeah, well Remus helped me.” Sirius pulled the covers over his eyes.
James pulled the covers back down. “Remus did? Really? Why?”
“I don’t know, probably because he knows I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.” Sirius said.
“Mmhm. Or because he wanted to spend more time with you.” James replied. Sirius’ eyes shot open.
“No, that’s not why.” Sirius muttered, sitting up.
“I can assure you it is. I’m telling you, he loves being around you. That’s a sure sign of a crush.” James insisted.
Sirius rolled his eyes. “It’s a sure sign that we’re friends. He doesn’t like me.”
“Yes he does! He stares at you all the time, he’s always on your side, he even brought you back home last night!” James said, exasperated.
“Looking at someone doesn’t mean you like them, he’s on my side because I’m always right, and he would have carried any of us home last night. I’m just the one who passed out. Speaking of which, I have a hangover, so stop shouting.” Sirius countered.
“I’ll stop shouting once you stop being so stupid. He clearly likes you. I don’t know how you don’t see it. He’s… affectionate towards you. In a way he isn’t around the rest of us. You’re the only one who hasn’t noticed it.” James said, but he knew he wasn’t going to win this fight.
“You always say that. He’s exactly the same around all of us. Besides, even if he wasn’t, you don’t act the same around me and Lily. Does that mean you still have a crush on her?” Sirius pointed out.
James huffed, “I liked her for a week in seventh grade, are you ever going to let that go? Besides, we all have different personalities. I’m going to make different jokes around Lily than I do Peter. That’s just the way it is. Peter and I talk about dumb stuff, Lily is more refined.”
“How is that any different from what Remus does then?” Sirius asked.
“It’s different because Remus is the same around all of us, besides you. He’s calm and collected around Lily, Mary, Peter, and me. Hell, he’s undisturbed by McGonagall herself! But around you, he gets flustered. And he gets super protective. I asked him about it once and it was the first time he didn’t know what to say around me. I don’t understand how you don’t see it!” James exclaimed.
Sirius shrugged and got up. “It’s just a difference in opinions.” He said.
James followed Sirius to the closet. He closed his eyes as he started changing. “It should be the opposite way though. You should be the one hoping he likes you, you’re the one who likes him. But somehow you’re hell bent on having unreciprocated feelings!” James cried.
“Whatever,” Sirius ended the conversation. He looked at the clock. “It’s seven. Why did you wake me up so early?”
James felt guilty. But not guilty enough to apologize. “I was bored and I wanted someone to talk to. Now that I’m in Sector 2, I could finally talk to you. Which is great, I can talk to any of you guys at any time now, instead of waiting for you to get to the training grounds. I swear, the restrictions between sectors are so stupid.”
Sirius walked past James, ignoring his complaining. “I’m going to go get coffee and then we’ll spar with powers.”
James blinked, confused by the sudden need to spar. “I mean I'm down, but why?”
“Because I need the medic to heal my hangover but they won’t do it if that’s the only thing that’s hurt. So you’re going to burn me, I’m going to take it, and then they’ll heal me and I’ll be good to go on the mission.” Sirius explained.
“You’re really going to do the mandatory paperwork just because of a hangover? That’s crazy.” James laughed.
Sirius began walking out the door with James following him. “Not all of us are terrified of paperwork, James. Anyway, you’ll get used to it once you start your missions, you’re supposed to check in with the healer every time you come back.
James groaned, having forgotten about that.
___
By the time Remus woke up and had his morning coffee, Sirius’ hangover was gone. He had also won absolutely zero sparring matches. After Remus came out Mary, and then finally Lily. They grabbed breakfast from the dining hall and began to set out on their mission. Remus loaded the suitcases in the back of the trunk.
“Okay James,” Remus said, “Usually when we go out on a long term mission, we go to a hotel first. Mary already found one and rented out a week. We can add on days if we have to. We usually get two rooms since there are four of us, so you’ll have to share with Sirius and I.”
“Hell yeah, I’m excited.” James said, bouncing back and forth on his feet.
“You won’t be when you start to hear Sirius snore at midnight.” Lily laughed. Sirius elbowed her.
“Hey, I don’t snore… that loudly. Plus anything I do in my sleep, James already knows about. We literally lived together for a year.” Sirius bit back.
“Who’s to say that I don’t snore?” James asked. Lily shrugged.
“Long as I don’t have to hear it.” She said.
Eventually, the group made it to the hotel. Both groups went into their respective rooms. The rooms were small. With two queen sized beds in the middle. A TV was placed where both beds could see it, on top of a dresser. A couch was placed by the AC unit, although it looked like it couldn’t even fit two people. There was a small closet with a couple hangers and an ironing board. The bathroom was across from the closet, with a miniscule shower and a toilet right by it. On the sink there was hand soap, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. There were towels hanging by the toilet.
Once the boys got inside, Sirius immediately ran to the bed closest to the window and flopped on it. “I call dibs!” He shouted, his voice muffled from lying face first on a pillow.
James seemed to be the only one looking around. Remus had gone to the dresser and began unpacking his clothes. He was the only one that did so, as both James and Sirius preferred simply taking the clothes straight out of their bags. Remus then hung up some shirts and put all of their suitcases in the closet.
Sirius was beginning to fall asleep, maybe even suffocate since he hadn’t moved his head and was still lying face first in the pillow. James asked “So where am I going to sleep?” just to break the silence.
Remus told him, “That depends on whether you want to sleep alone or not. You can either sleep on the couch or with Sirius.” At this, Remus turned to look at Sirius and noticed he was dozing off. “Sirius,” He said loudly, “We haven’t even started the day yet.”
Sirius rubbed his eyes and sat up. He had to blink several times to stay awake. “Sorry,” He said. “I woke up at like 7 today and you know how sleeping drunk feels like. It’s never very refreshing.”
“Why’d you wake up at seven?” Remus asked. James felt a pang of guilt.
“No reason.” Sirius covered for him. James appreciated it. Sometimes Remus didn’t get how things were between the two of them. He supposed that couldn’t be helped. He didn’t particularly get the things between Remus and Peter, either.
At around lunch times, the group left their room and saw the girls already waiting outside, just about to knock.
“There you are,” Mary said. “We were just about to grab a bite. Do you wanna come?”
Sirius fist thrusted the air. “Hell yeah,” He said. “I’m starved.”
“What kind of food were you thinking?” Remus asked.
“I don’t know, maybe Mexican?” Mary replied.
“Ooh, yes, absolutely.” LIly said. “Mexican sounds great.”
Sirius agreed and Remus looked at James, waiting for him to put in his opinion.” “I could go for some tacos.” James shrugged.
“Mexican it is.” Remus decided.
___
As they ate, they discussed where they could possibly find the Etas.
“Maybe it’s like, in plain sight. I always heard that was the safest place to hide something.” Sirius said, biting into his burrito.
“No way,” James replied. “It’s probably somewhere we’d never think to guess. Like a banana factory.”
“Is a banana factory a thing? I thought they just grew on trees.” Sirius asked.
“There’s a clothing brand called Banana Factory.” Mary pointed out.
Sirius looked at James like he was stupid. “It’s not going to be in a clothing store, dumbass!”
“I didn’t say it was going to be in a clothing store, I said a factory!” James refuted. Sirius rolled his eyes.
“You said a banana factory! That shit doesn’t even exist!”
“Yeah, well, maybe it’s up your asshole!”
“Maybe it’s up your butt and around the corner!”
“That’s what I just said, you’re copying me now!” James cried.
“I said it better.” Sirius responded and laughed when James gasped, offended.
Remus, Lily, and Mary ignored the two.
“Well it is a power stealer. So where would we find that?” Mary asked.
“Maybe a power plant or something?” Remus guessed.
“Yeah, but it’s also ancient. So it could be in a museum or something.” Lily suggested.
“Alright, so let’s start by checking power plants and museums near us.” Mary decided. She looked over at James and Sirius, still bickering. “We’ll tell them once they start acting like adults again.”
“So, never?” Remus said. Lily laughed.
And so, the team had a plan.