A Change of Heart

“Truth or dare?” Remus Lupin asked the dark haired teenager in front of him.

“Dare” Sirius replied without a second thought but with a large grin on his face. Remus sighed, Sirius had picked dare every time tonight and he had done it every single time. So far he had performed a strip-tease to most of Gryffindor house (to the delight of many of the girls) stood on his head and had eaten 30 every flavour beans in one go (including several rather strange flavours) to name a few.

After Remus looked around the room his eyes settled on the third of the group of four friends, James Potter. “Alright Padfoot I’ve got a dare for you. I dare you to kiss James for one minute.”

“Why me?” James shouted in protest, “I might catch something.”

Remus and Peter both laughed. Sirius just smiled and said, “Sorry about this Prongs but a dare’s a dare and I don’t back out.”

James nodded acknowledging his friends statement and their heads grew closer. James hardly noticed when their lips first met but within a second he had most definitely noticed.

At first Sirius kissed James mechanically. His body was acting freely of his mind as he kissed his best friend. Then a thought struck SiriusÂ’ mind; he was enjoying this. The kiss was tender and Sirius wondered what James was thinking at the time.

James was thinking thoughts not far away from SiriusÂ’ own. When Remus had said the dare he had realised that he would have to do it, but he wished it would pass quickly. Now James was wishing it would never end. He would never get to do this again although he knew why the girls kept coming back for more from his best friend.

Remus and Peter just watched as their friends kissed each other. It looked like they were enjoying every minute of it. Remus took a glance at the watch on his wrist and saw the second hand return to where it started from.

“You can stop now” Remus said doubting the pair would hear him.

He was surprised as they immediately pulled apart. For a second Remus thought he must have imagined the way they had been kissing, the looks on Sirius and JamesÂ’ faces told Remus otherwise.

When James looked at Sirius he saw a look which clearly said ‘we need to talk’. “He has to be angry with me” James thought.

The game of truth or dare continued for a while longer but nobody was really interested anymore and before long Peter then Remus went to the Gryffindor 5th year dorms.

Sirius and James were left alone in an uncomfortable silence. They sat that way for what seemed like forever but in reality was only half an hour. Patience was not one of SiriusÂ’ virtues and he got up to leave the deserted common room. If James wasnÂ’t going to say anything Sirius didnÂ’t see why he should.

James didnÂ’t say anything as Sirius got up instead he grabbed his arm and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Sirius briefly resisted before giving in to the taller teenagerÂ’s deep kiss. They parted breathlessly looking each other in the eyes.

“That’s twice now, James” Sirius stated plainly, “We have to talk.”

“I know, it’s just I don’t know what to say.”

“That’s a first, James Potter lost for words.” Sirius said feigning shock.

“You’re not full of them yourself Padfoot.” James replied softly.

“How’s this then; I have kissed my very male best friend twice in two hours and both times I felt something I didn’t know you could feel with guys. The only thing is I still think that girls are hot so I don’t know what’s happening. It’s your turn.”

“Maybe you do have words about this. Words that pretty much described what happened. Now let me tell you what happens next.” James paused, “I say that we shouldn’t hide these feelings and we get it out in the open.”

Sirius just nodded as he stroked JamesÂ’ hair. Their lips met for the third time with no less effect than before.

Sirius and James walked hand in hand up to their dorm room.

Their brief kiss before bed was watched by Remus who just smiled at his friends.

*****The Next Day*****

Sirius woke up early the next morning. Early for him anyway, which basically meant with more than an hour before first lesson. An uncharacteristic frown crossed his face as he imagined Remus and PeterÂ’s reactions when they discovered his relationship with James.

Sirius dressed quickly and hurried to breakfast to join his friends. He walked past the Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables and took his usual seat at the Gryffindor table.

“What time do you call this?” Remus asked looking at his watch.

“Too bloody early, but I’m here,” Sirius replied knowing exactly what his friend was getting at.

“We noticed,” James said with a small smile towards Sirius, “but we’re gonna have a problem now.”

“What might that be Mr. Potter?” Sirius asked.

“You’re gonna want feeding,” James replied with a smile, “And I’m not sure that there’s enough food to go around.”

“Haha. Pass me some toast please.” Sirius replied jokingly. No matter how confident he appeared on the outside he didn’t feel it on the inside. He didn’t know what he expected James to say but he didn’t expect business as usual. Weren’t they going to tell Wormtail and Moony? It didn’t seem fair not to, yet James was acting as though it didn’t matter. Was that true? Is this all another of Prongs’ famous jokes?

Somehow Sirius made it through breakfast without any of them noticing the change in his behaviour but he couldnÂ’t keep it up for long. First lesson was Charms and they were studying appearance Charms including glamour. Appearance charms would be a term long study, as it got rather difficult towards the end, so they all tried to pay attention as Professor Flitwick explained the basics.

Remus was making notes on the different uses of glamour when he noticed that James and Sirius were fidgeting about more than usual next to him. Remus realised that they were having some form of a game of footsie and decided to ignore them. Peter who was sat on the other side of Remus didnÂ’t notice because as usual he was paying attention to the lesson hoping he would understand what was going on so he didnÂ’t doom himself to another term of extra credit assignments.

Things didnÂ’t get any better in Herbology only this time James and Sirius were speaking in such a way Remus couldnÂ’t help but wonder if they really thought that they were keeping their relationship secret. However he realised that he could say that because he knew of their kiss last night and the fact that they probably were dating.

Sirius meanwhile was lost in thoughts of his own, ‘James has been flirting with me all morning and I’m sure that Moony knows something or he wouldn’t keep looking like that. I wonder if James has noticed this yet. Probably not he is too busy flirting and having fun to care about other people. That sounded harsh. Even in my head that sounded harsh. I’ve got to talk to him soon or I’ll start going crazy, and he won’t understand why because surprise, surprise he’s not the most observant person in the world when it comes to other peoples’ feelings.’

*****Later That Day*****

“Sirius,” James shouted across the Great Hall.

“What,” he replied just before he stepped out of the Great Hall.

“Wait a minute, I’ll come with you.”

“You don’t even know where I’m going.”

“Flying,” James said and with a nod from Sirius he knew he was right, “Catch up with you two later alright.” James said his goodbyes to Remus and Peter and headed out after Sirius.

“There’s no practice tonight so why are you going out?” James asked his best friend as they reached the Quidditch pitch, brooms in hand.

“I needed to clear my head. Think about things, you know?” Sirius said looking at James.

“Yeah, what’s bothering you?” James asked. He didn’t notice the angry glint in Sirius eye as he took off leaving James stranded on the ground below him.

Sirius looked behind him and watched as James flew off the ground and began to chase after him. In his mind Sirius knew James couldnÂ’t catch him; he had the better broom and neither was a better flier than the other. Sirius realised James was closing in on him. He suddenly realised that he had wanted to be caught, the only way he was going to clear his head was to battle it out with James.

“Finished running away?” James asked pulling up alongside Sirius.

“Have you?” Sirius asked.

“I’m not running away from anything.” James replied defensively.

“How about the truth?” Sirius replied just as quickly, “You weren’t exactly telling Moony and Wormtail that today either.”

“That’s what this is all about? Why didn’t you just tell me before?” James asked looking Sirius right in the eye.

“I thought it would be better if you figured things out on your own. Besides you probably wouldn’t care anyway.” Sirius said.

For the first time James realised how upset Sirius was, he usually guarded his emotions so well. If he was being this open he was hurting badly, James cupped Sirius’ chin in his hand and said quietly, “I do care Sirius just I don’t know how to tell them. They’re important to me and I don’t want to risk losing their friendship.”

“I know what you mean, Moony knows. I’m almost sure of it he’s been looking at us funny all day.” Sirius said.

“Really I didn’t notice.” James replied in disbelief.

“I’m not surprised; you must have been too busy acting like a little kid.”

“I don’t even want to know what you mean by that.” James said Sirius stubbornly sat in silence, James spoke first, “Actually yes I do, I want to know what the hell you meant by that”

“I meant that you’re so busy flirting and playing footsie that you haven’t realised how serious this thing is.” Sirius replied quietly, “And I don’t think you realise that if something goes wrong here that we might risk losing one of the best friendships that either of us is ever going to have.”

“You don’t think I’m taking this thing seriously enough?” James asked. Sirius nodded hoping James would understand what he was getting at. James paused to take in his friends words and continued “I don’t want to lose what we had before but I don’t want to miss out on what this could be either. What is it? Is it that you want to tell the others?”

“Well kind of. It almost seems like you’re ashamed to admit there’s something going on between us if they don’t know.”

“Will you believe me that I’m serious is I promise to tell the others?” James said looking straight into Sirius’ deep blue eyes.

Sirius just stared back at James and nodded in a way which was hardly noticeable. Within seconds their lips met in a kiss which lasted longest out of the ones they had shared so far. James stopped the kiss first, “What do you say we go inside, it’s freezing out here.”

“Sure.” Sirius said and they landed on the ground. Sirius slung his broom over his left shoulder and took James’ left hand in his right. They walked back up to the castle hand in hand.

Gryffindor common room was surprisingly quiet when James and Sirius walked in five minutes later. They spotted Remus and Peter were playing chess in one corner of the room. James said, “Shall we tell them now or do you want to wait?”

“Might as well do it now, they deserve to know, even if they are never going to talk to us again.” Sirius replied apprehensively. “Hey guys.”

“Hey Sirius,” Peter said.

“Hey,” Remus replied, pointing to the chess board in-front of him he added “Checkmate.”

“I’d give up if I were you Pete, you’re not gonna beat him.” James said laughing, “Not even if you cheat.”

“How would you know that?” Remus asked James.

“I’ve tried.” James replied, “I was sick of losing. It didn’t work though.”

“Serves you right.” Remus said acting as though he was offended.

“Suppose so, hey guys can we tell you something?” James asked. Peter and Remus both nodded.

“Promise to keep it a secret?” Sirius asked.

“Uh-oh,” Peter said, “What have you two done now?”

“Us, do something?” Sirius said, “Since when would we do anything?”

“Don’t answer that,” James said, “No this is serious.”

“Uh-oh,” Peter said again, “I better not get detention because of this. That’s what happened last time.”

Sirius chuckled, “I don’t think you’ll get detention for this. What we wanted to tell you is that… that… James and I… well…”

“Sirius lost for words, I don’t believe it,” Remus commented dryly.

“I know. What he was trying to say is that… well we’re kind of… you know…”

“Both of you lost for words, now I’m getting scared.” Remus said, “As a matter of fact I do know but he,” gesturing towards Peter, “is clueless.”

“Told you,” Sirius said to James who just shook his head. “Oh well what we were trying to say before we turned into bumbling idiots is that we started dating.”

“When did this happen?” Peter asked looking confused.

“Last night,” James answered simply, “After truth or dare.”

“Ah OK. Cool.” Peter replied.

“Cool, that’s it?” James asked.

“What were you expecting?” Remus asked.

“I don’t know really,” James replied.

“We thought you might not want to talk to us.” Sirius continued.

“Yeah right,” Remus said with a look of disbelief, “You’re still the same James and Sirius we’ve always known so why wouldn’t we want to talk to you?”

Peter muttered under his breath, “Apart from the fact they always get us in trouble.”

“That sounded strangely familiar.” James said looking at Remus.

“It should; that’s what you told me in second year.” Remus replied quietly.

“Yeah, I suppose it works both ways.” Sirius said smiling, “One more thing.”

James looked at Sirius strangely, “What?”

Looking straight at Peter, Sirius said, “You’ve five seconds to run because after that I’m going to kill you as soon as I catch you for saying that. You get us in as much trouble as we do you. 5-4-3-2-1” Sirius started to run after Peter who was already half way down the stairs. It didn’t take long for all four of the boys to be involved in the fight down in the Gryffindor common room. As far as everyone else knew nothing had changed.