strangers
Remus was fluent in Spanish from the time he was 3 years old. James of course had been raised in a Spanish household. Remus and James often found themselves sitting in the common room studying most nights. One thing about James and Remus is they would very often slip into Spanish when talking. It was easy and no one else could listen in on their conversations. Mainly a curly black haired Gryffindor boy.
"Sabes cuando vence nuestro ensayo sobre encantos?” James asked.
“Proximo viernes.”
“Gracias lunatico” James smiled.
“Ya has comenzado tu ensayo sobre el cuicado de criaturas magicas?”
“Un ensayo a la vez lunatico.” James threw his hands up falling back on the red couch.
“Merlin James, no entiendo como apruebas alguna de tus materias.” Remus laughed at James.
“Remus, you speak Spanish?” Lily’s shocked voice snapped the two boys back to reality.
“Well yeah, my Mums stepdad is Spanish, I learnt so I could talk to him.” Remus smiled, a little amused by Lily’s confused face.
“Oh, that’s so cool.” Lily smiled.
“Te amo Lily.” James smiled pathetically.
“Merlin James, dejalo, a ella no le gustas.”
“What are you guys saying?” Lily asked seeming anxious.
“James was just saying how much he l-”
“Loathes potions, I absolutely hate the class.” James cuts Remus off before he embarrasses him.
“Right.” Lily gives James an odd look before walking away.
James Buried his head in his hands out of embarrassment. “Oh, for Merlin's sake Remus, you almost embarrassed the bloody hell out of me.” James gives Remus a playful push.
“Twas just being an honest friend.” Remus laughed as he pushed James back, “You need to get over your obsession with Lily mate.”
“Oh, but i am, I’m in love with you now.” James’ thought, wishing he could let the words leave his mouth.
James’ feelings for Remus were growing every moment they were together. He was practically drowning in them. And the worst part is he had no one to talk to about it. He didn’t know what to do with himself. He was furious at Sirius, but he could never do that to him. Sirius really did love Remus more than anything. James felt so lost. He loved his ex-best friend's ex-boyfriend. He wanted to tell someone. He just wanted to talk to someone about it, but who the bloody hell could he tell? Lily. He could tell Lily. She would know exactly what to do.
“James.” Remus broke James out of his thoughts.
“What were you saying mate?”
“I asked if you were ok.” Remus seemed concerned.
“Yeah, I just need to talk to Lily. See you at dinner.” James sped off after Lily.
****
James was walking to the library where Lily had gone when he accidentally bumped into Regulus Black.
“Oh shit, I’m so sorry.” James said quickly bending over and picking up the books Regulus had dropped.
“Where are you going in such a hurry Potter?” Regulus asked taking the books from James.
“The library, just gotta talk to Evans.”
“Oh merlin, are you going to ask her out again.” It seemed like Regulus was making a joke. James couldn’t tell if he was though.
“No, I just need her advice. I don’t know if she’s the right person to go to for dating advice, but she is highly intelligent so hopefully she can help.”
“Found a new girl to harass every day, have you?” Regulus raised an eyebrow to the older boy.
“No, I’m not going to harass them, and they’re not a girl.” James was hesitant with the last part of his sentence unsure if he was going to be hexed.”
“Hmm, never took you for a queer Potter.” Regulus smirked.
“Me either.” James joked.
“Well, we’ve all got to figure it out at some point, don’t we.” Regulus smiled putting a hand on James’ arm.
“Wait, you’re gay too?”
“Yep.” Reg replied.
James couldn’t help but notice the icy glow in Regulus’ eyes. It was oddly captivating. His eyes seemed to glow when the light hit them, he’d never seen Regulus up close before.
****
“Oh, shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d still be in here.” Sirius went to walk out but Remus stopped him.
“Stay.” Sirius felt his heart fasten hearing Remus tell him to stay.
“I was just leaving.” Remus walked out of the room leaving Sirius alone.
Sirius felt his heart shatter again. The hope that Remus might have been ready to forgive him falling away.
****
It felt as though the walk to the great hall took years. Remus could feel all his joints grinding against each other and his hip was acting up again. Of course, the walk had only taken ten minutes, but with the full moon creeping up walking was the last thing Remus wanted to do. He eventually reached the great hall and saw the 3 Gryffindor girls sitting at the table waving to him. He offered them a friendly smile but turned in the opposite direction and headed to the Slytherin table. He sat down next to Evan and across from Pandora who had her nose stuck in her potions book.
“How ‘ave you been doin’?” Evan asked still feeling guilty for Remus’ panic attack a few days prior.
“I’ve been good.” Remus smiled hoping it would make Evan feel better. “Where’s Reg?”
“He went to the library. I have no clue what's taking him so long.” Pandora replied, not looking up from her potions book.
Pandora was a highly intelligent girl. She was top of her class at potions. She even rivalled Lily Evans. She was very much the opposite of her twin brother. Evan wasn’t exactly daft, but he definitely wasn’t anywhere near as smart as pandora. He was failing potions, and most of his other classes for that matter. But that was simply because he was too lazy to try. He had dark skin, but still lighter than Pandora’s. His hair was a short mess of sandy blonde curls, while Pandora had long platinum blonde dreadlocks that always looked neat. They both had beautiful blue eyes. Evan’s face was littered with piercings, while Pandora simply had a black septum ring.
“Have you seen Barty? He bunked last period and i haven’t seen him since.” Evan asked placing food onto his plate.
“No sorry, I’ve been in the common room all afternoon.”
“Nah, it’s right, I'm sure he’ll be here soon.” Evan smiled before he started eating.
Of course, Evan was right. Barty walked into the hall a few minutes later. He was pale, with messy black hair. But it was Barty, so as you can guess he had dyed the tips green. He had an eyebrow piercing, which him and Evan had gotten together. His eyes were grey. But not in the same way Sirius’ were. They were darker, but still beautiful. Barty plopped himself down next to Pandora and across from Evan. He was a lot quieter than normal.
****
Sirius was sitting on his bed, staring across at Remus’ bed. He couldn’t help but miss when they used to lay there, just talking. It hurt to remember but the idea of forgetting was far more painful. Sirius heard the door open. He didn’t turn his head.
“Do you know where James is, I’ve been searching for him everywhere?” A small squeaky voiced asked.
It was Peter. Sirius found him incredibly annoying. He would always follow him and James around like a lost puppy. It didn’t help that Peter had been trying to convince Sirius to go and do things with him. He hated Peter. And he hated spending time with him even more.
“I don’t bloody know do I. Encase you Forgot, me and James aren’t exactly friends anymore.” Sirius snapped his head not moving.
“S-s-s-sorry" Peter stuttered before leaving.
That stutter. For Merlin's sake that stutter was THE most annoying thing about Peter. Without even thinking, Sirius had stood up, grabbed the framed photo of and him, James and Peter from Peter’s bedside table and smashed it against the wall. He was so angry. James and Remus still wanted to be friends with Peter but not him. Nothing in the entire world made Sirius angrier than that little, annoying, squirmy rat Peter. How on earth could Remus and James prefer Peter over him. It wasn’t fair.
****
“So, what advice do you need from Lily?” Regulus asked in a cool tone.
“Why do you want to know?” James asked nervously.
“Maybe I could help.”
“I don’t know.” James rubbed the back of his neck.
“Come on it will be fine. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Well, I like this guy, but he dated one of my friends, well we’re not really friends anymore. But I still feel bad because it would absolutely destroy him. And they ended on really bad terms.” James spilled the words out like vomit simply happy to get it off his chest.
“Well, why’d they break up, did this friend cheat on him or something?”
“No way worse, like way, way worse. I can’t say exactly what happened, but the friend made his worst nightmare become true, he betrayed him in the worst way anyone could ever betray their partner.” James tried to explain it in the vaguest way possible.
“Well, if the guy is single and has no intention of getting back with your friend then I’d say it’s free for all.” Regulus shrugged clearly not understanding the gravity of the situation.
“Yeah, I guess so.” James looked at the floor as he spoke.
The boys stood across from each other in silence for a moment. James had never really taken a good look at Regulus before. He had never noticed what a beautiful shade of blue his eyes were. Or the way his skin looked pale but not in a sick way, more of a porcelain doll way. The way his curls framed his face. Or how perfectly they sat.
“Better head of to lunch.” Regulus broke the silence and James out of him trance.
“Oh yeah, I’ll see you round” James smiled.
“Of course, Potter.” Regulus smiled back.
James had never seen Regulus smile before. He had quite a pretty smile.
****
“Regulus is going to miss lunch at this rate.” Evan looked at Remus.
“I’m sure he’ll be here soon.” Remus replied.
Pandora was still reading over her potions book and Barty; well Barty was just sitting there silently looking down at the table.
“You alright mate?” Remus asked.
Barty simply just nodded without saying a word. Evan went to speak to Barty, but he got up and walked out.
“Ev what did you do to him? He won’t speak to anyone, not even Reg.” Pandora gave Evan a stare.
“I didn’t do anything. He just won't speak to me.” Evan slumped down into his seat.
The table fell silent. Pandora was studying, Remus was reading, and Evan was just playing with his food.
****
“Hey Evans.” James sat down across from Lily.
“Piss off potter, I’m trying to study.” She replied bluntly not looking up from her textbooks and parchment.
“No. No. No. I’m not here to annoy you. I’m here for advice.”
“What do you need advice about potter?” Lily asked unamused.
“Ok so to start I think I’m gay.” James spoke as though it was the most regular thing he could be saying.
“You think you’re what?” Lily face scrunched with confusion.
“I’m gay. The thing is I don’t want to hurt Sirius but i think i like Remus. And you know, I want to shoot my shot, but it would destroy Sirius. And i don’t wanna do that to him. But i really like Remus. What do i do?” James blurted it all out in the manner of a minute.
“I’m sorry WHAT!?” Lily was utterly shocked.
“What do I do?” James whined.
“That was a lot of information to get James. I think you should just try and ignore your feelings for Remus. He’s not ready for anything like that yet. And it would just make him pressured to get over everything that happened way to fast.” Lily rubbed James’ shoulder. “He needs time to heal.”
“Thank you for the advice Lils.” James let out a sigh before leaving.
Lily was left sitting in the library utterly shocked. James Potter, the man who had been in love with her since they were twelve was now telling her he was gay and in love with her best friend. The same best friend who had just had his heart destroyed by James’ best friend.