Quidditch Victory Party
“Over here, Remus!” Lily’s voice called out.
Sirius looked over in the direction of the doorway, and sure enough, there was Remus, laden with bags of books he must have gotten from the library. Sirius was standing next to James and Marlene at the Quidditch victory party, but Lily’s voice had still cut through the music to reach him, and his ears had perked up at the sound of Remus’ name. The party was in full swing; their victory today meant that they would qualify for the finals. The 1977 Quidditch Cup was in sight, as James would tell anyone who would listen. He was determined to bring a victory to the house for their penultimate year at Hogwarts.
Remus nodded at Lily and walked over to her. They spoke briefly before he headed up to their dorm, presumably to drop off his bags. If it had been any farther, Sirius might have offered to help, but he figured that just dropping them off Remus would be fine.
The last few months for Sirius and Remus had been delightful, and Sirius couldn’t help but smile just to see him sometimes. Being in a room with Remus brightened his spirit more than any of his girlfriends ever had.
James called for another toast to the beaters after Marlene recounted some story from the game, and the whole room cheered happily.
Sirius lost track of Remus after that, and it wasn’t until a very tipsy James pointed him out later that Sirius noticed him again.
Lily and Remus were standing together by the records, and seemed to be debating the merits of whatever records were in her hands.
“D’you think she likes him?” James slurred. James had been in love with Lily since their second year, but this year, their sixth, it had gotten much worse. Sirius just didn’t understand what he saw in her, but he always tried to be supportive of his friend.
“No, mate, I don’t think she does.”
“Well do you think he likes her?” James continued petulantly.
Sirius wasn’t drunk enough to think that mentioning where Remus’ affection really lay was a good idea; it would mean outing both of them, which wasn’t fair to Remus.
“No, he definitely doesn’t, he’s a good friend to you so he wouldn’t.”
James frowned. “I wouldn’t try to stop them if they did like each other, you know? I mean if they both fancied each other, I could be supportive. He’s my friend.”
Sirius nodded, feeling like his head was wobbly as he did it. “Yeah, but moot point since they don’t.”
James nodded, seeming pleased with this resolution.
Sirius looked around, but his eyes hadn’t even finished one circuit of the room before James was back at it.
“Her hand is on his arm.”
Sirius looked around, confused. “What?”
James nodded in the direction they’d both been looking only moments before. “Lily’s. Her hand is on Moony’s arm.” He turned to Sirius and looked positively stricken. “Do you think they’re together and he just doesn’t want to tell me?”
Sirius felt a burst of jealousy that he tried to suppress. Lily wasn’t good enough for Remus, and besides, he wouldn’t want her because he had Sirius.
He knew he couldn’t tell James, but it seemed ridiculous all of a sudden. James was his best friend and he needed to know.
It may have been the firewhiskey talking, but suddenly it was very important to Sirius that he could claim what was his.
“I’m gonna go talk to him,” he muttered, stepping away from James.
James put a hand on his arm to stop him. “What are you going to say?” He asked, “don’t be accusatory, just-”
Sirius shook him off. “Don’t worry, and stay here.”
By the time Sirius reached Lily and Remus, Mary was talking to them as well. Sirius pulled Remus away ever so slightly when Mary had Lily’s attention.
“I’m going to tell James,” he whispered in Remus’ ear.
“Tell him wh-” Remus started, but he cut off when he understood. Sirius just nodded, knowing that they were on the same page.
Remus’ eyes widened and he looked across the room at James, who gave a nervous smile and waved, like an absolute prat.
“Okay,” Remus said simply.
Sirius nodded, glad they were both in agreement, and then turned back to James. Even after Sirius had crossed the room again and reached him, he could feel that Remus’ eyes were on them.
“What did he say?” James asked eagerly, “is he dating Lily?”
Sirius rolled his eyes, dimly recognizing what he was feeling as jealousy. “No, he is not dating Lily.” Then he lowered his voice even further. “He’s dating me. I’m dating him. We’re a thing.”
James recoiled slightly.
“What? No you aren’t.”
Sirius nodded. “Yes, believe me, we are. It has been eating at me that you didn’t know.”
James shook his head, bobbing back and forth. “I definitely do not believe you.”
“I can prove it to you later, in the dorm, but not here.”
James cocked his head. “Oh, how?”
Sirius raised his eyebrow slowly, and cocked up one corner of his mouth into a sly grin.
“How do you think?”
James stammered and blushed, and Sirius knew he had him there. Eventually James laughed, and Sirius broke out into a real grin.
…
The next morning, Sirius woke to the sound of his name.
“Sirius? Sirius?” James’ voice said hesitantly.
Sirius groaned loudly. His head was throbbing and he felt like he might be sick. “What?” he snapped.
James didn’t pull back the curtain, he just stayed where he was. “Did I dream that last night?”
Sirius tried to think through the haze of his hangover.
“Wh-” and then it all came back to him. “Oh. That. Yeah, not a dream.”
“Okay,” James said, “see you at breakfast then.”
Sirius rolled over. Curse James and his perfect genes that could best hangovers. But he found himself smiling anyway. There would probably be about a hundred questions waiting for him after breakfast, but for now James seemed remarkably okay with the whole thing.
But first: sleep.