Will-o'-the-Wisp

James came up the stairs and into the common room, feeling like he was walking on air. Lily had elected to stay down at the ball until it ended, talking with some of her girlfriends, but he was feeling all partied out and decided to go up to bed. Actually, he'd gone looking for Remus and Sirius, but to no avail. No one had seen Sirius for several hours, and the only person who had seen Remus had been Regulus, who said he had gone outside about two or three hours before.

To James's surprise, however, Sirius was sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace, wearing his pyjamas and wrapped in a bathrobe, a mug of hot chocolate cradled in his hands. A second mug, this one empty but containing traces of chocolate, sat on a small side table between the sofa and the armchair to its right. Sirius stared distractedly into the fire, scarcely seeming to notice his cocoa.

"Siri?"

Sirius jumped, nearly spilling his hot chocolate, and looked up. Seeing James, he grinned. "Oh...hi, James. Ball all done?"

"Nah. All done ball, but ball not all done." James chuckled. "I love dancing--and God knows I love dancing with Lily--but I swear, one more time around that dance floor and I was going to fake an ankle injury. She wanted to stay and talk to some of her friends, but I begged off and decided to come back here." He looked at Sirius's mug with interest. "Is that hot chocolate?"

"Yup." Sirius nodded to the fire, where a kettle was beginning to steam. "Want some?"

"Oh, God, yes." James noticed Sirius's appearance, then glanced down at his own suit. "Lemme go change first...pyjamas are starting to sound mighty comfy. Be right back...save me some of that hot chocolate."

"Sure thing, mate."

James disappeared upstairs; a second or two later, Remus came back into the common room from the small corridor that led to the bathrooms. "Told you I'd be right back," Remus smiled.

Sirius grinned back. "The kettle's not done boiling yet. I promised James I'd save him some."

Remus sat in the armchair to Sirius's right. "James and Lily are back?"

"James yes, Lily no. The ball isn't over yet, but he was getting tired of dancing. He left Lily to gossip with her girlfriends." Sirius waved his wand and conjured up another mug, which he set on the end table to the left of his sofa. "He went upstairs to change into his pyjamas."

Remus looked a little uncomfortable. "Siri, do you think he might...notice a couple of things?"

Sirius blinked up at him in surprise. "Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know...like the fact that we didn't put away our suits?"

Sirius grinned. "I put 'em away before I came downstairs. It's fine."

"Did you remember to make your bed?"

Sirius opened his mouth to reply, but just then James came clattering down the stairs and joined the cluster by the fire. "Told you...oh, hey, Rem! You came up early too?"

Remus smiled. "I had no reason to stay down there. I'd talked to everyone I wanted to talk to...and as you know, I went alone."

The kettle whistled; Sirius lifted it off the fire, added cocoa to both Remus's and James's mugs, poured in the boiling water, and stirred for a second. "There you go."

"Ta," James said gratefully, accepting his mug and sipping it.

Remus looked at James over the rim of his cup. "So, did you ask her, then?"

James grinned. "Yup. She said yes, if you can believe it."

"I believe it, all right. Congratulations, mate."

"Thanks." James hesitated, then glanced at Sirius. "Siri...I want to ask you. Would you be my best man?"

Sirius blinked in surprise. "Well...sure! I mean...hey, that's what brothers are for, right?"

James grinned, then turned to Remus. "Of course, Remus, I want you to stand up with me as well."

"No problem," Remus promised. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Great." James sipped his hot chocolate and an easy, companionable silence lapsed over the group. After a second, he added casually, "So...who was she?"

Sirius looked up in surprise. "Who was who?"

"The girl whichever one of you had up in our dorm."

Remus choked on his hot chocolate, and if you've never had hot chocolate come out your nose it's not an experience I recommend trying. "Wh-what on earth...?" he coughed. "What makes you think one of us had a girl up there?"

James shrugged. "I can never remember which one of your beds is on which side of that nightstand, but whichever one of you is on the right obviously had a girl up there...the sheets are tangled and the pillows are in disarray. I know the signs."

"How, exactly, do you 'know the signs'?" Sirius asked, raising one eyebrow.

"What, you think I've been going out with Lily for an entire school year and never done it with her?" James grinned. "You just never caught me. So, which one of you was it?"

Sirius shook his head slowly. "James, my dear friend, I assure you I am telling the God's honest truth...neither Remus nor I was up there shagging some girl."

James raised his eyebrows at Remus. "Remus? Is he telling the truth?"

Remus squirmed. "Yes...of course he's telling the truth..."

"But?" James prompted. "You can't lie even by omission, Rem."

Remus set down his mug and looked helplessly at Sirius, who set down his own mug, came over, and slid into the armchair, squeezing into the small space next to Remus so that he was practically sitting on Remus's lap. He put his arm around Remus's shoulders and gazed levelly at James. Cottoning on, Remus slipped his arm around Sirius's waist and looked over as well.

James looked from one to the other, comprehension and denial dawning at the same time. "Oh, no. No, no, no. Don't tease me like this, guys."

"I'd never tease about something this important," Sirius informed him, squeezing Remus a little more tightly.

James still seemed incredulous, but at the same time pleased. "Really? You really...really?"

"Yes, really, really," Remus said with a smile.

James grinned. "Well, that's...that's great!"

Remus was surprised; he hadn't expected any of their friends to be supportive if they knew. "You really think so?"

"Sure. I can't think of anyone more deserving than you two." James flashed them both a megawatt grin. "But, jeez, you guys are way better at keeping secrets than I am."

"How so?" Sirius asked.

"Come on, Sirius, you remember when I first fell in love with Lily? It wasn't half an hour before I told you guys. How long has it been?"

Remus and Sirius exchanged puzzled glances. "Since when?" Sirius finally asked.

James looked from one to the other as though they were the biggest morons on the planet. "Since you guys...you know...hooked up. Since you fell in love...since you started being 'together'. I bet you went stag tonight so the whole world wouldn't know..."

Sirius shook his head. "James, old friend, I went stag because I was afraid to ask Remus, I was convinced he'd say no if I did. Remus went stag because he honestly thought that no one would want to go with him."

James frowned. "Wait...but...if you were..."

"We weren't, James," Remus said quietly.

"But--wait! When did you--you aren't answering my question. How long has it been?"

"Er--" Remus checked his watch, then looked up sheepishly. "Two hours?"

Sirius checked his own watch. "Two hours, five minutes, ten seconds. Plus one conversation, one kiss and one dance."

James's eyebrows shot up. "Blimey. You two don't beat about the bush, do you?"

Remus crimsoned. "I--that is, we--you see--"

"It's okay, Remus," James laughed. "I'm not...you know...yelling at you or anything. I'd just point out that you're acting like...well..."

"Teenagers?" Sirius suggested.

"Exactly...oh, wait." James looked sheepish. "Guess that's not much of an acting stretch, is it?"

Sirius and Remus both laughed. After a second, James did too. "Congratulations, you guys."

"Thanks." Sirius stood up and returned to the sofa; Remus curled up a little in the chair. "This calls for a celebration. Hot cocoa all around!"

James laughed and raised his mug. Sirius and Remus followed suit. They clinked their mugs together, then leaned back and drank happily.

After a moment or two, James set his mug down. "Okay, I gotta ask. Was tonight...you know...had either of you done that before? With anyone else, I mean?"

Remus blushed furiously and shook his head. Sirius, however, just grinned. "Nah, I never had a girlfriend long enough. And let's face it, Prongs...Petunia Evans has about as much sex appeal as road kill. And quite frankly, if road kill turns you on, I don't want to hear about it."

James burst out laughing. "So let me make sure I've got this straight. You two have never, before tonight, acknowledged that either one of you had any feelings for the other--in Remus's case, never realised it. Then about two and half hours ago you discovered you were in love, kissed, danced, and, for lack of a better term, shagged each other, which happened to be the first time for both of you."

Remus was at this point so red it hurt. "Gosh, when you put it like that..."

Sirius laughed as well, setting down his mug before he spilled it. "It's a little more complicated than that, James. We were watching you and Lily jitterbug...I mentioned, without specifying name or gender, that there was someone I really liked but hadn't been able to work up the courage to ask out, mainly because I was afraid it would affect our friendship if said person didn't feel the same. Remus told me to just go ahead and ask whoever it was...I walked inside, said hi to Regulus, waited for the song to finish, then walked back outside and asked him to dance. We stood about as far apart as we could...but once the song was over, I acted recklessly--big surprise--and kissed him. Then I...I sort of got a little scared at what he'd think and ran for it. He tracked me down and...well, he told me that he felt the same way I did."

"Now that I think on it, I've probably felt this way for a while and just hadn't realised it," Remus added. "I mean...remember this morning, after graduation, when you told me I had a home with you?"

"Yeah," Sirius answered, smiling at Remus.

Remus smiled back. "Well...when you put your hand on my shoulder, it was like...I don't know. I felt almost...safe. Peaceful." He swallowed hard. "Wanted."

"You are." Sirius caressed the side of Remus's cheek with the backs of his pointer and middle fingers.

James clasped his hands together and tilted his head to one side. "Isn't that sweet? I think I need extra insulin."

Without missing a beat, Sirius lifted one of the pillows off the sofa and threw it at James, who took it full in the face. Remus chuckled. Some things never changed.