What Sirius never said

Chapter 94

I could tell Remus wanted to repeat his question, but at that very moment a shout rent the air. "So this is where you've been hiding?"
Adam had found us and was leading his friends in our direction.
"But" Remus started. Sirius shook his head subtly as Adam, Billy and Greg rounded the corner.
"Trudyyyy" Bill called again; his usual greeting. "How are you doing?" He asked. "I didn't get to have a proper chat earlier."
I smiled at him as he came and stood in front of us with his hands on his hips.
"I'm doing good thanks Bill. Can't complain".
"You've got quite the group of friends this year" he commented, eyeing the boys around me. "I didn't even know you guys were friends".
"Billy, Sirius was here last year. You chatted to him for an hour". To be honest, it had been at the end of the night and Bill had been completely sloshed.
"Eh" he waved a hand, discounting my comment. "I was probably drunk. But anyway. I hope none of you are making designs on our Trudy here". I snorted.
"Don't worry" James replied. "None of us look at Trudy like that. We're all just friends". I saw Sirius's foot inch towards Remus and Peter but they both seemed to have gotten the message and neither said anything. I appreciated James stepping in, but I wasn't sure how I felt about Billys comment.
"Why would it matter to you if they were?" I asked, an icy tone in my voice.
"Well you know, you're like a little sister to me. I'm not gonna let that happen".
"It's sweet that you think you would have any say in that matter" Sirius said, and I could hear the condescension in his voice too.
"Mate, she is my little sister and I wouldn't dare tell her what she could or couldn't do" Adam chimed in.
"You know she's in Advanced Magical Theory right?" Remus joined in too. "She could whoop the ass of any guy who tried to wrong her."
"Nahhh. She's just little Trudy, she couldn't hurt a fly". I started to notice the slur to Bills words. He was drunk.
I stood up and pulled my wand out of sleeve. Adam and Greg took a step back. "Bill" I said coldly. "I appreciate the concern. But it is my life. You have no say in what I do or don't do with it". He was watching the end of my wand, almost going crosseyed.
There was a long frosty moment before he finally took a step back, putting his palms up as a sign of innocence.
"Fine, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But you know, with her track record. Going to Slughorns party with Roswell..." I gasped and took a step back myself. How could he bring that up just to throw it in my face. Adam instinctively took a step forward and Sirius rose by my side.
"Time to get you home mate" Adam said, clamping a hand firmly on Billys arm.
"Want a hand?" Sirius offered, watching him warily. Adam looked Sirius in the eye then nodded. The two of them frog marched Billy up through the garden.
I heard James let out a breath beside me, "well that escalated quickly". I sat back down heavily and James put an arm around me. "You alright Tru?" He asked. I nodded shakily. That had really felt like a slap in the face. This. This was why I didn't want to date during school. I didn't want people to judge me for my poor decisions. Or even to talk about it.
"Well. That was a bewildering episode. My sincerest apologies Trudy. I had no notion that Bill had such antiquated sentimentalities" Greg spoke. He was still staring off after the three retreating boys and was evidently drunk too, he always used long fancy words when he was drunk. He seemed to be lost in thought but just when I was about to reply he spoke again "and I had no preconceptions that Adam and Black were acquainted."
"His name is Sirius mate" Remus piped up.
Greg nodded once then walked off.
"Well that was weird" Remus stated.
"What a load of old tosh" James said. And that was all it took to break the tension. I snorted, then I snickered, then I threw my head back and I laughed. I couldn't help it, I was surrounded by my friends, my brother and my boyfriend really had my back and... Well, it had just been a weird situation. I had had my poor choices thrown back at me, but I had survived.
We were still laughing when Sirius made his way back to us.
James shuffled over to make space for Sirius, who sat down beside me and took my face in his hands. "Are you okay?" He asked, watching me intently. I pushed him away a little, taking his hand in the process. "Yes Sirius, I'm fine."
"He shouldn't have said"
"I'm fine Sirius" I interrupted him. "But thank you" he smiled a little too, so I cuddle into him. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.
"So... You guys are together then?" Remus asked, his voice seemed a little dull.
Sirius pulled away from me to look at his friend, but he took my hand to mark that we were in this together.
"Yes" he said, almost excitedly. "We have been dating in secret for...  Nearly a year now".
"How long?!" Peter squeaked.
"I kissed her last new years, and then we had our first date in.... Marchl?"
"And James has known for?"
"A couple of months. I told him in November. He was confused why I was so upset about Trudy being pissed at me." James snorted at that.
"I can't believe you didn't tell us" Peter squeaked in his high pitched voice. "Who else knows?"
"Well, Adam knows" Sirius continued explaining.
"Trudys brother?"
"Yeah, that's the one. He caught us. And then Andy knows".
"Andy Cleverly? How come he got to know?" Remus seemed hurt.
"Because he's my best friend Remus" I tried to explain. "And because he also caught us.... again, not by choice. You guys are the first people we have chosen to tell" I tried to placate them. I had hoped they would take it better than this but Remus seemed really grumpy about it. He shrugged in response which was a strange contrast to Peter's wide grin.
"What?" I asked Remus. Why on earth should he sulk about this?
"It just sucks to know that most of the time we've been friends, you've just put up with us because you were dating Sirius."
"Remus!" I exploded "pipe right down. That is not true! We're friends Remus. Or at least I thought we were. You were invited here on your own merit thank you very much. And I still hung out with you when Sirius and I nearly broke up. Because I thought we were friends, Remus."
"When did you and Sirius nearly break up?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, we've only just found out about this remember? We haven't been around for the ins and outs of your relationship" Remus chimed in snarkily.
"It was when she found out we were animagus" Sirius stepped in, sighing heavily. I watched Remus carefully as Sirius spoke, pleading in my eyes. I wanted him to understand, I wanted him to not be hurt that we hadn't told him. "Remember then Mooney? When she was so pissed off with James and I but she".
"She did everything in her power to make sure I knew she wasn't upset with me" Remus chimed in flatly, as if this was something they had discussed.
"Remus" I started and he finally looked up at me. "Remus, this is the first New year's party my parents have thrown that I have wanted to invite friends to in years. You guys mean so much to me, all of you, and I actually wanted to celebrate the new years with you all. It's been just the party I wanted and I know that sounds lame and pathetic but it means a lot to me."
"I'm sorry Trudy" he said quietly.
"It's okay Remus..." I took a breath, "friends?"
"Friends" he nodded, smiling, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. It was good enough for me.
I looked back out across the garden, past the trees to the flickering lights of the adults party. Things finally felt right.
"Why did you keep it a secret?" Peter asked quietly. I looked at him, just down the slope. He seemed nervous to ask, one hand twitching in the grass, the other gripping his glass of mulled cider tightly.
"It was for me" I explained. "I didn't want anyone to gossip about me. Or my life. Judging me or trying to change my opinion of someone. I mean, you saw what happened tonight" I waved my hand in the vague direction of Billy. "I just didn't want... that".
"And now I don't want it coming out because of the war. I can't put Trudy in danger." Sirius continued, giving my hand a slight squeeze.
"So why tell us now?" Peter asked. I looked to Sirius, who seemed to be giving Remus a hard stare. "We thought you should know".
He let that hang in the air for a while until Remus nodded. "We would really appreciate it if you guys keep it a secret. We have told you but we still don't want anyone else to know. Is that okay?"
And finally Remus cracked a genuine smile. "Of course mate. We won't tell anyone. We're good at secrets, you know that."
"Thanks man" Sirius said.