the marauders- an inseparable bond

[12] an unhappy reunion

Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew trudged up the stone walkway to the Potter household, chatting animatedly up the drive until they reached the handsome oak doors. Peter leaned forward and rang the bell, which was followed by screaming inside.

"THEY'RE HERE! OH MY DEAR GOODNESS THEY ARE HERE! JAMES THEY'RE HEREEEE!"

The doors swung open, revealing the source of the noise: Sirius, looking happy and red-faced.

"Hi." said Remus timidly.

Instead of replying, Sirius leaned in and began kissing the other boy against the side of the house.

"Um... I'll just go in, then... leave you two be... see you later..." Peter said, before darting around them and inside the house.

"Hullo." James greeted him as he entered the living room. "Are Moony and Padfoot still staying hi?"

"Yeah." uttered Peter, with a mortified look on his face that made James laugh.

Peter and James were trading chocolate frog cards that they had acquired over the summer when Sirius and Remus came in. The four were reunited once more.

The talk drifted between their summers, Quidditch, and other odd things, until it finally landed on what James had been itching to talk about: Lily. They were joking around about James' rejection on the train, and what it would be like when he saw her at the start of term, when he said:

"I want to write to her."

The others looked uneasy, unsure of how to best phrase their ideas on the subject.

"What would you say, if you did?" asked Remus carefully.

"I don't know, ask her about her summer, I guess, and how she's doing, tell her about my life, Sirius coming to live with us... Sixth year starting, Quidditch..." he drifted off.

"I suppose if you really want to." voiced Peter after a long pause, awarding him dirty looks by the other members of the gang (not James, of course).

'Yeah... yeah, I suppose so..." James was looking quite distant, away in a world of thought.

"Mate, I'm saying this for all of us, because I don't want you to get hurt. Maybe it would seem a little, I don't know, clingy to write to her? Maybe you should just play it cool after what happened?"

"So you think I'm clingy towards Lily?" James said hotly, saying clingy the same way Sirius had.

"No, that's not what I meant-"

"You think she's too good for me?"

"I never said anything at all like that."

"Whatever."

And he stormed off.

"Way to go." said Peter.

"Oh, please, the only reason I said that in the first place is because you chickened out and made him think it was a good idea."

They continued to babble away until they were interrupted by Remus, who said, in his soft voice:

"Guys, you know that thing Prongs whipped up out of nowhere about Lily being too good for him? I think it's something he's actually been fearing, and that's why he jumped to that conclusion."

Gently, the three boys climbed the stairs and walked down the hall to James' room.

"James?" Sirius knocked softly. "Can we come in?"

There was no reply except for a muffled grunting noise.

They entered James' room, which was plastered with Quidditch posters and pictures of the marauders. James was lying on his bed, looking up at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry." said Sirius.

"That's okay." James replied in a monotone voice.

"Prongs, you're an amazing person- who cares what some girl thinks of you?" Remus sat down on the bed next to him.

James sat up quite suddenly, and said:

"I really, really like her."

"You know what then? Write to her." said Sirius, "I'm not just saying this to make you feel better. I think Evans is the type of girl that would appreciate if you were just kind and straightforward with your feelings."

"I'll start the letter now!" James got up off the bed. "Moony, you'll proofread it?"

"Me?"

Sirius smirked.

"That's your answer to everything."

Remus' ears went red.

"I'm just joking." he said, walking over and nuzzling the pale brown-haired boy's neck.

"Can you not?"

Peter had spoken for the first time since they had come into James' room. Sirius stopped and looked at Wormy.

"What?"

"Well, it's not like James and I want to see two guys making out!" Peter said defensively.

"You're kidding, right?" Sirius' voice rose a little, "We weren't even kissing! And what does it matter that we're two guys?"

"Well it's not like we're into that kind of thing!"

"Leave me out of this." objected James warningly. Sirius was looking mutinous.

"It doesn't matter if you're gay or not! What matters, is if you're bloody homophobic!"

There was silence.

Stung, Peter whispered:

"Fag." and left.

James didn't know what to say. Sirius made to lunge out the door, but Remus restrained him.

"Don't."

"He- he-" Sirius stuttered, too angry to speak.

"Look." James was looking out the window. The other two joined him. Out on the Potter's curb, the Knight Bus had appeared, and Peter Pettigrew was climbing in.

"Good riddance." Sirius spoke viciously.

"He didn't mean it, he was just angry..." Remus tried to soothe his boyfriend.

"God, when will you realize people are pushing you around? Fight back for once!" Sirius stormed out of the room. There was a look of hurt on Remus' face.

"Everyone is just upset." James told him.

Moony nodded back, but the regard of injury lingered on his face.