Trust Fall

Chapter Five: Confessional

It was almost difficult for Remus to sit still during his last exams with James and Lily's upcoming wedding on his mind. Not only was the affair itself way beyond exciting, but he had also officially decided that this would be the time that he would tell Sirius just exactly how he felt about the whole boyfriend thing. And that in itself was enough to give anyone the worst case of butterflies in the stomach imaginable.

Nevertheless, he got through it -- as time did not slow to a complete halt and after what seemed like the longest 72 hours of his life, he and all of his friends were able to see the last of the exam results posted in the hallway by the Great Hall. Within the span of a few hours, they would be inside the hall itself for their final leaving feast ever.

"Not bad there Remus" James said as he arrived with Sirius and Peter in tow.

"Thanks...not bad yourself...you tied Snape in top Potions mark. Pretty damned good if you ask me."

"For the first and last time in your life Potter." Came a silky drawl behind him. "Not that I'm overly happy that your little werewolf friend scored top in everything else, but I'm sure it will finally take your ego down a peg or three..."

"You promised not to tell!" yelled Sirius, and Remus, Peter and James all had to grab onto him to hold him back.

"Oh please." Severus purred, looking unruffled by Sirius' outburst and crossing his arms across his chest. "Do you see anyone else in this hallway Black? Besides if I were you, I wouldn't try anything. Don't forget that I hold the futures of you and your fangy bitey friend in the palm of my hand." He extended his hand, palm up quite elegantly towards the restrained Sirius who made no effort to keep the snarl out of his throat or to refrain from snapping his teeth at Snape's fingers. "I'm sure neither of you wants 'Successfully ensured fellow student's death' on your resumes".

With that, Snape turned and sashayed up the corridor, robes swishing behind him.

Sirius's only response was a very rude gesture aimed at Severus's retreating back. That pretty much summed it up for everyone.

"Forget about it." James said airily as Snape turned the corner. "We'll never have to look at him again in our lifetimes."

"Quite right." Peter nodded. "How much longer is it until the leaving feast?"

"...do you do ANYTHING besides eat and sleep?" Sirius asked him. Peter gave him such an indignant look in reply that he hurriedly checked on his watch. "Err...a couple of hours at least."

"Oh!" Peter said, looking quite shocked. "I um...have to...go do something besides eat and sleep now."

The rest of the marauders stared quite speechless as Peter shot up the hall after Snape, not looking back.

"You ever seen anything like that?" James asked incredulously, still staring up the the way Peter had gone.

"Many a time." Sirius responded in the affirmative. The other two looked at him, and he grinned. "Then we found out you were going out with Lily James."

"You don't think Peter has a girlfriend...do you?"

"Stranger things have happened."

Mercifully, Dumbledore appeared at that moment, and the usually hawk-eyed James missed the meaningful look that his other two friends shared in lieu of the last comment.

"I think you'd better come with me James." the headmaster said with an unusual gravity in his tone.

Giving a shrug to his other friends, he followed Dumbledore back up the hall.

---

Having been in trouble before plenty of times, James was no stranger to the interior of this office. Every time he came in here -- he never failed to amaze at the sheer oddity of the various bits and bobs the unorthodox man kept about. Usually, he just sort of focused on one particular shiny thing and drowned out the whole "stop breaking the rules" lecture. This time however -- he could recall performing no such infraction...and it left him with a distinctly unpleasant feeling of strained nerves.

"Sit down please James." The headmaster gestured to a chair as he seated himself on the other side of his massive desk. James strained to see the familiar friendly glint in the older man's eye, but suddenly the expanse of tabletop between them felt like a massive mahogany ocean. For the first time in his life, James Potter felt his courage momentarily fail him.

"First of all James, I couldn't be happier about your decision. You and Lily were simply made for each other." Dumbledore smiled as he echoed the statements Sirius had once expressed. The twinkle returned, but only briefly. "However, there are a few things you simply must be aware of. I've already spoken to Miss Evans, and I know her thoughts on the matter...I need to know them from you too."

James nodded slowly, and Dumbledore took it as a cue to continue. "Those of Muggle born families are now in increasing danger. After your wedding is made public knowledge, Lord Voldemort and his followers will most certainly be after you and your Muggle-born wife. I'm not entirely sure that your Ministry of Magic Career choice will help you avoid the Dark Lord."

"I see. Headmaster, I hardly think you could have called me up here to talk about something that's pretty much common knowledge."

Dumbledore laughed shortly. "No James, you're quite right in saying that I did not. You will have to make a very hard decision with your marital choice. In order to protect yourself and Lily, you will both have to live in a house that's not only unplottable, but protected by the Fidelius Charm. Nobody can know where you are, not even your friends, except for one -- the secret keeper himself."

"I'll never be able to see my friends?" James asked quietly. On one hand, this was horrible news. He couldn't imagine never seeing Sirius, Peter or Remus ever again. On the other hand...this knowledge only strengthened his resolve to protect the woman he loved. What if he never married her at all, and never did this Fidelius thing...and then she was murdered anyway by Lord Voldemort?

"Well, you'll be able to see them ...just not very often, and never at your own house." The headmaster paused momentarily, and smiled in such a way that proved he knew the answer to his final question already. "So, Mr. Potter -- now that you know, do you still want to marry Miss Evans? Furthermore, do you have a friend trustworthy enough to keep your secret?"

---

The wedding was held in June. They had planned it to be inside, but as the day broke, bright and sunny and beautiful, nobody could resist the idea of moving the whole operation outdoors.

"I need some help with my dress." Lily called softly from inside the tent. James immediately moved to help her, but was warded away by Peter.

"You can't do that James! Muggles consider it bad luck to see the bride before the wedding!"

"Well what am I supposed to do? We're all guys!"

"I'll go!" Sirius quickly volunteered.

"NO!" Yelped Lily from inside.

Sirius grinned proudly, having achieved the desired reaction.

"Remus, you go."

It was Remus' turn to smirk at a scowling Sirius as he brushed into the tent that was serving as the Bride's dressing room.

"Ha, finally got one up on you didn't he Padfoot." Peter giggled, completely misinterpreting the exchange of emotions between the two men.

"Yeah, that's it Wormtail...help me with these streamers would you? They keep falling down."

Peter simply dissolved into more giggles assuming that Sirius was jealous of Remus (it certainly would have never crossed his mind that Padfoot the Player was jealous of Lily), but he stretched as high as he could go on his tiptoes to hand Sirius the offending streamers.

"Hey...Peter...speaking of women...who are you coming to the wedding with?" Sirius asked, as he pulled out his want to try and secure the decorations for a final time. "You can tell me and everything -- it'll give me some practice for this whole secret keeper thing."

Peter stammered, looking a bit red.

"Oh come on. Look, it can't be much worse..." he laughed inwardly at the irony of what he was about to say "...much worse than coming with Remus."

"It's not that, I just don't think you'll believe me if I tell you."

"Try me."

"Well...it's...it's Narcissa Laurence"

Sirius's eyes went wide. "Narcissa Laurence. You can't POSSIBLY be talking about the same Narcissa Laurence who refused to go out with me last year because I was in Gryffindor....Slytherin Narcissa Laurence? Lucius Malfoy's er...former now, I suppose, girlfriend Narcissa Laurence? Killer legs and huge bre—"

"Yes...yes...how many other Narcissa Laurences do you know?"

"Whoa..." was all Sirius could say on this point. His statements became no more remarkable three hours later when the gorgeous blonde woman showed up with a slew of other guests, flashed her invitation to Remus at the entrance, sidestepped him completely and kissed Peter deeply right on the lips. "Hmmm...you know what they say about small boys." Sirius mused aloud, though mercifully out of range of the now blatantly snogging Narcissa and Peter couple. Come to think of it -- Remus was a good deal shorter than himself. Testing that theory out someday wasn't a wildly unpleasant idea. When would Remus finally decide? It was torturous. He knew better than to push it though. He'd already promised Remus it was completely his decision.

"Wish I knew what he was thinking..." he mumbled, watching the object of his affections cheerfully greet guests at the garden gate.

---

Remus for his part was feeling as though the flobberworms that had hatched in his stomach had become especially squirmy ever since he'd decided that he really liked Sirius and was going to tell him so that day. He'd just never really gotten a chance to be alone with him to break the news. After the ceremony, they'd gone into dinner, and James had seated Remus, Sirius, Peter, Narcissa, Derek and his date Rachel all together at the same table. Remus and Sirius were rather apprehensive of the former Slytherin woman -- but within moments, all six of them, even Narcissa, were talking and laughing as though the years of pranks between their three respective houses at Hogwarts had never occurred. They were in fact, getting a few mildly dirty stares from the other tables each and every time they laughed boisterously.

Rachel was just in the middle of a really great recap of one particular Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff match where the Ravenclaw seeker had apparently been dared to wear no underwear underneath his Quidditch robes. Sirius in particular remembered it well, he'd been the one to dare Philip Durant to do it. What he didn't know or realize at the time however, was that Rachel had indeed noticed, and her play by play had really been a very well covered commentary on the movement of Philip's...genitalia. Remus made a personal note never to underestimate Hufflepuffs ever again.

To his left, Sirius was getting progressively more hysterical -- writhing in his chair in a futile attempt to catch his breath from laughing so hard. Then, just as Rachel was describing the "graceful way these two big bludgers caught the breeze", Sirius actually slipped off his chair. As he grasped at the table, trying to steady himself -- he actually tipped sideways and did a face plant, right into Remus Lupin's lap.

It took all of five seconds for Remus to go five different shades of red all at once, and another five seconds for every other single occupant of the table to get their cameras out and snap a picture.

Sirius quickly pulled his face up, looking more than a little embarrassed, as Remus carefully covered his lap with a napkin and scooted a little closer to the table and it's all concealing tablecloth.

Fortunately, no more mishaps occurred from there on in. That wasn't to say that Remus wouldn't have liked it to happen -- the pre-dinner pants spelunking occurrence had proved that well enough. He just didn't want people to get suspicious and end their relationship before it had even begun. Chalk it up to nerves toned from years of worrying people will discover you're a werewolf.

The evening ended with dinner and dancing. Sirius goggled a bit more at Narcissa and Peter's frequent disappearances and reappearances (in varying states of disarray), but refrained from commenting on anything else but how lucky James was to have such a lovely and wonderful dancer for a wife. As he and Lily spun around the dance floor, a thought struck him. Probably the best thought he had come up with after the events of that stupid prank. Lily and James were happy...and they deserved to remain so. Sirius was James' best friend -- the LIKELY secret keeper. The OBVIOUS choice. Now that Peter was dating a Slytherin woman and being the magically weakest of the three...he'd be absolutely perfect. Nobody would possibly suspect him...not when Mr. Childhood friend -- i.e., himself was around. He'd have to tell James as soon as possible. Sure it would be hard seeing his best friend so much less...but it was just the right thing to do -- Peter was the ultimate choice. Heck, the little guy would probably be happy to have such important information entrusted to him. He had always tried so hard to keep up with all of them.

The dancing lasted well into the night, but after it was over, only Professor Dumbledore, James Potter and his new wife as well as the three friends, Peter now being minus Narcissa remained.

"James, you and your wife are free to go, and you're welcome to have a few visitors every now and again...however, in about a months time, we'll have to perform the Fidelius charm, as well as make your new house unplottable. Do you understand? Failure to comply may result in a very bad situation indeed."

James and Lily nodded, and Albus Dumbledore, their Professor no longer kissed both the Potters and with a wave of his wand cleaned up the wedding grounds for them before departing with a "Have the first of many lovely nights."

A mere moment later, it was down to simply Peter, Sirius and Remus as they waved goodbye to Lily and James -- riding off on, well, what else? The Cleansweep 3 racing broom -- the latest of the Cleansweep line, currently charmed to shoot little white bells and roses from the tail end for the occasion.

"Well, that was perfect." Remus said, when the happy couple had become no more than a minute speck in the night sky.

Nobody had the heart to disagree, but after a few moments, Peter began to gather his things. "Well...I was just thinking...Narcissa's waiting." He hurried off again, disapperating with a pop at the garden gate.

Sirius laughed. "Well, of all the...pretty incredible no? Who'd have thought Peter and Narcissa...my god, if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes, I'd have told him he was a complete nutter....Remus? Are you okay?"

"Yes..." came the quiet reply. "I just...well, I was trying to tell you all day that I made up my mind."

For some reason, this didn't make Sirius feel remotely good. He was beginning to regret the whole dinner -- he felt as though if he opened his mouth at that precise moment, he would lose all of it. He did however manage a brief "Oh?" in a tone that was more a high-pitched squeak than anything else.

Unbeknownst to Sirius, Remus was feeling equally as strange. It was taking a huge effort just to remain as composed as he was...and the whole thing was just as scary as ever. He was almost beginning to wish he hadn't said a word, but he would have to now. He'd brought it up, and now he would have to admit. "I like you....and I want to be your...your boyfriend." There, he'd said it. Now what? He didn't dare turn around -- what if Sirius had changed his mind or...

His thoughts were cut off as a huge weight bore down on him, completely knocking him off of his feet. A brief panic moment...before he realized that...

"Padfoot...I...eww....dog kisses. I don't even know where your mouth's been!"

In an instant, the big black dog transformed into a man. "It's been in your lap." He grinned hugely, leaning down to Remus's mouth.

"Sirius...maybe this isn't the best place for this." Remus said, cutting him off. All things considered, he wasn't particularly interested in having his first snog with his new boyfriend in the middle of a garden, behind a pile of chairs.

"Well then," the other said, looking thoughtful, "We could always go back to my place."

"I'd like that." Remus smiled, as they headed out of the garden door, arm in arm.