Avoidance at All Costs until You No Longer Can (Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana and Devil Town by Cavetown and All For Us by Labrinth and Zendaya)
Sunday was a quiet day for the Slytherins and their Ravenclaw and Gryffindor friends who spent most of the morning fighting over when to get up, what to wear, and where to eat. They had discussed the idea of going to the great hall when Sirius noticed Severus’ paler-than-normal face at the thought of having to be in the same room as his most likely twin brother. Sirius tells them about the kitchen and how it’s big enough that no one besides the elves would be able to find them. All while silently singing his head to the very relieved Severus, holding onto his boyfriend’s hand with a death grip.
They all agree to stay on the down-low and avoid the Marauders and evade any questions, including from Dorcas and especially from Avery Jr. The groups make it the whole day running from yearmates and teachers gaining the respect, and fear, from younger years to evade anyone they think will question them. That night, they all go to bed in their own dorms.
Severus sleeps wrapped in a tight hug with Bruce, while Sirius cries himself thinking about all the possible futures he and Remus could have had. The boys of “The Skittles” stay up gossiping till the early morning, Regulus telling bits and pieces of what happened between him and his brother. Across the school, Remus is lying awake thinking about Sirius while James sleeps like a baby who hasn’t had his entire life blown up into shambles.
Monday comes and goes in the blink of an eye. James and Remus spent the entire day trying to speak to both Sirius and Severus, but they always managed to evade them. They managed by getting into the class right before class started and leaving as soon as it ended, not speaking to anyone besides each other and Mulciber. It was only until later that day when Remus was doing his homework that he realized that Sirius must’ve shown them the secret passages to get by.
Remus ran to James and asked him where he had left the map. When James questions him why they need the map so urgently, Remus yells, “Because they're using the passages to escape talking to us!!” They start frantically searching the entire dorm and even check the common room; they somehow end up backtracking to see where they could've probably left it. It’s then that James exclaims, “Earlier when we were leaving Transfiguration, Black shoved into me, apologized and ran, he could’ve nicked it when he was apologizing!”
Remus let out a groan and said, “Fuckkk..we’re never going to catch them now.” James let out a sigh. “I don’t even get why they’re avoiding us after dropping that nuclear bomb.” “Well fuck James we’re going to have to do another plan,” that’s when they hear Peter say “Why don’t you just act like you’re not trying to catch a conversation with them all of Tuesday and the catch them by surprise on Wednesday?” Remus and James glance at each other and then bring him in for a hug and sing praises for the rest of the night, sending Euphemia Potter and Hope Lupin requests for candies and baked goods.
Meanwhile, the Skittles, Severus, Sirius, and Bruce’s day has been just as hectic if not more. The day for the unexpected trio started with a responding letter from none other than Orion Black, the letter stated that he would meet the boys and girls at the Gringotts bank he also told them to ask the Mediwitch to help them contact Gringotts and asked her to not talk about it with many because it could put Severus in danger. He told them that this would make it so that her vows as a Mediwitch came into play, and she wouldn’t be able to disclose any information, not even to the headmaster. They spent most of the day running from the Marauders with the help of ‘The Skittles’, now including Dorcas, the younger years who respect and fear them, and even some Ravenclaws.
They spent their lunch asking Madame Pomfrey for help and she sent out a letter to Gringotts they received a response, stating they were to be at Gringotts on Saturday at noon which thankfully was a Hogsmeade weekend, long before their lunch period came to an end and they were able to relax the rest of the day until lunch. Sirius showed the rest of the group that he had nicked the map off his friends. They stared at him in disbelief at the existence of the map and burst into outrage when they found out about the process of its creation.
Sirius teaches Severus and Bruce how to use the map and makes them swear not to tell anyone they spend the entire night planning what to wear, watching over the potion to find out laneige, and Sirius tells Severus jokes about Remus as they head to bed.
The Slytherins and Sirius spend the next day suspicious of the Marauders due to their lack of chasing, and while they are still cautious, they revel in the sense of peace they have for the day. Sirius, Bruce, and Severus spent the entire day in weary peace. Sirius sends Orion a letter in the morning, telling him that they would like to meet him at Gringotts so he can attend the meeting with them. Orion responds during the break in between the end of class that he would be glad to and suggests that they all take a full diagnosis test as he doesn’t trust Walburga or the Headmaster.
The boys are confused by Orion’s statement but also understanding after the whole shit show that happened when Severeus found out about Remus’ lycanthropy. The boys continue reading Orion’s letter, where he states that he wishes to bring Lyall Lupin because if Severus is Romulus, more questions might pop up, but he first wanted Severus’ permission to bring Lyall as it would affect him the most. Both Sirius and Bruce look at Severus questionably, and he says, “I mean I don’t know what if I'm not actually his son and I made him come all the way out to London for nothing.” “Well how about he waits outside or takes a test himself in another room while you’re taking the test and if it comes out that you’re not his kid we can ask the goblins for another way out without interacting with him?” Bruce asks with a shrug, wanting to do the most to keep his boyfriend out of awkward and stressful situations
Sirius thought about it for a couple of moments, debating whether the goblins would allow it before responding with a smile, “Yeah, I think the Goblins would do it. I’ve heard of them doing it for really hated people by the press in the past.” “Yeah we could both slide them a couple of gold coins, I like pissing off my parents you?” Bruce asks with an amused smile, and Sirius swiftly responds “Oh absolutely love pissing off my Mother Dearest and dad doesn’t really care much where I spend money just how much.”
“Well, okay, glad to know you too are rich, but I really don’t want any charity,” Severus says with an annoyed face, knowing Bruce already knows this. Sirius interjects and says, “It’s not charity. I’m treating you like I would any of my other friends regardless of their financial status, and think about it as investing because everyone knows you’re going to get rich from potion making and spell creation. How about in the future you just give me discounts on my potion?” Severus looks resigned but follows with, “What about Bruce? And I thought we weren't friends?”
Sirius replies to an amused Severus with a quick “Fuck off.” All the while, Bruce can’t stop himself from chuckling at the two boys' antics, who watch him in amazement and amusement, both having known Bruce for a long time due to school or balls hosted for purebloods. This caused both Severus and Sirius to learn that Bruce doesn’t laugh in front of just anyone; he has to trust you first, and that normally takes forever and while he already trusted Sev it meant that he has started in his process of trusting Sirius.
The Pureblood boys stayed up late helping Severus put his thoughts into a proper letter to Lord Orion Black Of The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. The three boys end up staying up so late that the next morning they wake up with barely enough time to get to breakfast. They throw on each other's clothes ties and clothes haphazardly, that morning instead of two Slytherins and one Gryffindor walking out of Slytherin there were two Gryffindors and a Slytherin (Sirius= Gryffin, Bruce=Gryffin, and Severus=Slyther). They end up making it look like it was on purpose by having BOTH Bruce and Severus in red and gold and Sirius in green.
The boys also came to the realization, at breakfast after talking with the Skittles, that they had also left the map in their dorm and none of them had a free period until almost 3-4 hours later. They all thought about playing hooky but knew it would just get their Hogsmade visitation rights revoked, and they could not risk it, not with already being half the week in. The boys lowered their caution due to the previous day passing with no attempts of contact from the marauders. The boys and Skittles still kept the backup plan that if they got cornered, to get Severus out as quickly as possible and then Sirius. This was a relatively good plan unless Seveus were together alone and then they couldn’t both get out of the situation.
They didn’t expect the third option of their plan to be needed, seeing as they were both always with Bruce or the Skittles. It was during the 6th year Slytherins’ Study Hall that Sirus found himself alone in herbology waiting for the class to let out because he got involuntary paired with none other than a marauder, and not just anyone either he got paired with Remus John Fucking Lupin. They worked in a tentative silence for the majority of the class before Remus spoke up and asked “Why did you do it? Why did you tell him?” Sirius paused, mulling how to answer before saying, “The same reason HE made him take an Unbreakable Vow. There are things people took from us and made us forget, from breaking up siblings to killing people's parents and potential siblings. Severus deserves to have his family back even if Hope tries to kill him over and over again.”
Sirius gasps before bringing a hand to his mouth and looks Remus in the eyes, screaming ‘I’m sorry’ through his own. Everyone had looked back at them at the gasp but slowly lost interest after it wasn’t immediately followed by drama, seeing as most students didn’t know who Hope was, but the rest of the Marauders looked appalled at what had just come out of Sirius' mouth. He slowly lowers his hand before continuing, “Sometimes I know things, things that I have never been told, like when we first met I knew who you were without ever having heard your name. But it’s also how I know that the only reason you have your condition is that Hope fed you a quote-en-quote remedy for people with your “disease”. It’s honestly more of a poison than anything and was only called a remedy because it put people out of their misery.”
Remus stared at Sirius, while he continued working, how it could ever be that the woman who raised him, the woman he had grown up crawling to when sad, and screaming for when in pain during his transformations could’ve possibly been the one responsible for all the pain he went through. Less than ten minutes later the end of class arrived, Remus gathered his courage and grabbed Sirius by the arm before he could run. Sirius looked at the arm with caution causing Remus to let go and look at him apologetically and said “I can’t forgive you without the whole truth, but what I do know is that…I need my Pads more than anything and was wondering if you could show up for the next moon?”
This startles Sirius but a look of genuine relief and happiness washes over his face as he stutters out a soft confirmation and they continue talking. Sirius tells Remus he could not tell him anything without agreement from the whole party. Neither boy had realized the arrival of Severus and Bruce and James’ and Peter’s slow movements towards them, James asked the Slytherins in a hushed town “Do you want to tease the lovesick fools?” Severus and Bruce glanced at each other and exchanged slight nods and smiles of confirmation before turning towards the Gryffindors as they started to catcall their respective friends and not too far behind them the Skittles and Marlene Mickinon had joined in on the teasing.
Sirius turns to his friends and gives them a scowl that could scare a god, it causes them all to shut up as he menacingly warns “Don’t forget I have access to almost all of your homes and dorms,” and with an immediate 180 in his demeanor he says “Baby Bat, Sevy let’s head out.”
Remus, Marlene, James, Peter, and a still close enough to have heard Lily and Mary stared bewildered at what they had just seen.