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July 1977.
James slammed the bedroom door and entered the living room where Sirius was admiring the house.
"Isn't it great?" asked Sirius.
"It's horrible." replied James, looking at the bright green walls with yellow and pink patches, red carpet, blue ceiling and the horrible purple couch on which Sirius was sitting.
"Oh come on! it's not that bad, and i will obviously change the colours." Sirius tried again.
"It's still shit. I don't see why you have to move out, you have a perfectly fine room at my house." said James in definitely not whiny tone.
"James, I cannot live at your house forever, I had to find my place own eventually." said Sirius.
"Bot now?" James tried again.
"Well I have money now and this place is available now." replied Sirius.
James scowled but did not say anything further. Sirius sighed noticing his expression.
"Okay. How about this, when you have to move out of your parent's house, you can be my roommate?" On James' raised eyebrow, he continued, "this place has two rooms, you can have one." He finished in I-am-so-generous tone.
One week later, Sirius bought the house (James paid half price), and they both moved into their house.
October 1977.
"Where are you going?" Sirius asked James from his bed where he was playing with his cat Elvendork.
"On a date." replied James while taming his hair.
"I thought you broke up with Mary." said Sirius. and that was an obvious conclusion since Sirius called her a hag when he apparently did not notice her lying in James'bed and started badmouthing her. In Sirius' defence, it wasn't like he had any personal problem with her, it's just like a law of universe, James and Sirius do not like each other's partners.
"With Evans. She asked me out." clarified James with a smirk.
"Lily? Damn, I actually liked her." Sirius muttered.
James raised an eyebrow.
"Not in a romantic way, in friendly way, she also likes motorcycles." explained Sirius. James just smirked and went out of the dorms.
***
James waited two months for Sirius to do something, any rude comment or ruining his dates, but he did nothing. He must really like Lily. It was the longest relationship, James ever had in his nearly eighteen years of life. So before Christmas holidays, he decided to break up with Lily himself during patrols at night.
"Lily, er, we need to talk." said James.
"We are breaking up?" Lily asked.
"How did you know?" James gaped at her.
"Seriously Potter? It's pretty obvious." said Lily, "None of us is interested in a relationship. I asked you out because my friends think I should give a chance to your poor soul since you have matured and all, I actually thought you would say no"
"Oh, er, You know I cannot say no to a beautiful girl," said James, "and I am interested in a relationship."
"Just not with anyone not-Sirius " she suggested with a teasing grin. The tips of James' ears turned red.
"What makes you think I'm interested in Sirius?" asked James.
"Other than the fact that you two were literally attached at the hip after the last match a year ago" said Lily, James snickered, "and why in the name of Merlin are you two not dating yet?"
"I don't know if he is interested" James sighed. On Lily's confused expression he continued, "In a relationship. I know he is interested in me sexually, since I'm so attractive and all" he finished in mock solemness.
"Indeed", Lily agreed, trying hard not to laugh, " I'm going to be devastated for the rest of my life because I lost the great James Potter".
James snickered, as she burst into laughter.
December 1977.
Sirius, with a determined expression on his face, entered James' bedroom without knocking. James was not in his room, but he could be heard singing (rather horribly) from the bathroom where he was showering.
"Why do you owl me onlyyyy when you are hiiiighhh?" Sirius snickered.
"James!" called Sirius.
"I keep waiting....What?" said James.
"Wanna go out for dinner?" asked Sirius.
"Why? and where?" James asked, his voice was muffled due to the sound of running water.
"Wherever you like." Sirius replied, ignoring the first question.
"..okay, give me a minute." James said as the sound of running water stopped.
Sirius took a deep breath before saying,"It's a date!". There was a loud crash, as James swore and Sirius ran towards bathroom door.
They did not go out for dinner, because James slipped and hurt his ankle, but they did end up making out on James' bed.
January 1978.
"Do we have to tell them?" asked Sirius. They were on their way to Muggle Studies, Sirius' last lesson of the day. Since James was free, he decided to give him some company.
"For the third time, Yes, they are our friends, we should tell them." replied James. Sirius sighed. "Why don't you want them to know?"
"Because Peter made a bet with Remus that we won't get together before we finish school, and he promised to give me half money, if I help him win." explained Sirius, "and since I have not paid him for the first match yet, I have to help him."
"What makes you think they will not figure out about us?" asked James with a grin as they stopped outside the class.
"Because you'll help me." replied Sirius confidently. James just chuckled and kissed him. Sirius kissed him back. "So, will you?"he pulled back just enough to ask.
"And what will I get in return?" said James.
"Me." replied Sirius, wiggling his eyebrows. James ginned as he kissed him again.
"I'll think about it." said James but Sirius knew he had given in, so he pressed one last kiss on his lips before entering the classroom.
They succeeded in this plan for two weeks, before Sirius accidentally kissed him and got carried away in the common room when he returned from practice. Peter who was coming down the stairs at that time, skipped two stairs and fell down. Remus dropped his book on his own foot. Lily squealed. The team bumped into each other as they were too busy staring at them. All of them shouted, "You are not drunk!"
February 1978.
James searched the map and went to Astronomy Tower, where apparently all boys Valentine's Day party was going on. The music was so loud, it was a miracle none of the professors had come here yet. Remus was dancing on a table, with Fabian who was wearing fake boobs. Peter was cheering loudly at him. At last, he found Sirius who was bent over laughing in a corner with Regulus, who had a glass of Firewhiskey in his hands.
"Hey James!" shouted Sirius, when he saw him. James grinned and went to him.
"Dare I ask how much you've had to drink?" said James as he reached to pull Sirius up. In a move that's probably meant to be smooth, Sirius' arms immediately went around James' waist the moment he was upright.
"No" he replied, "You know, you missed a greeaat party for your practice, Peter just gave Kingsley lap dance."
Regulus, who was scowling at James, snorted and laughed loudly. He too was looking more than tipsy.
"Who arranged this party?" asked James.
"Why are you going to give them detention, Mr. Head Boy?" taunted Regulus at the same time as Sirius said,"I did".
James raised his eyebrow at Sirius, who was swaying in his arms. But Sirius ignored this and just kissed him, until he was rudely interrupted by his brother.
"Hey! I thought he was like your brother!" said Regulus in a disgusted voice.
"Fuck off Regulus, how many drinks did you have? You are my brother, he is James." Sirius said, in a reasonable voice, shaking his head. James just watched their interaction with amused look on his face.
"Love you" murmured Sirius before kissing him again. Regulus made gagging noises. Until they heard Professor McGonagall's voice.
Party was shut down, all the students present were given detention, and James had to drag his three drunk mates to the dorms.
March 1978
James and Sirius were sitting on the branch of a tree, eating ice cream from the same bowl. It was Sirius' idea of romantic date to climb on a tree beside the Black Lake, for James' birthday.
According to what Sirius had read in Remus' novels, this date was pretty romantic, so what if he replaced the carpet with a branch of tree, and instead of looking at the stars they were looking at the sleeping Giant Squid.
"So James, did you like your presents?" asked Sirius
"Yeah, they were nice, but this morning's was the best." replied James with a grin. Sirius' cheeks turn pink. After a pause he added, "Is this all, or do you have anything else in mind? "
"No, since you think I don't have a sense of romance, I'm not putting out tonight. " said Sirius trying to keep his face stern.
"Really?" asked James with a teasing grin, "Because I am not the only one who thinks that you don't have a sense of romance."
"I am romantic" protested Sirius.
"Sirius, for our first date, we went to a motorcycle garage" before Sirius could protest again, he continued, "you gave me a porn magazine for Valentine's Day, and now we are sitting on a branch of tree, for my birthday, which I think is going to break any minute now."
"I think that's romantic." declared Sirius with an innocent look on his face while eating ice cream. James snickered.
"Let's go back to dorms, before Remus and Peter decide to join us on our romantic date."
Before Sirius could process his words, James jumped from the tree onto the ground. Sirius lost his balance and fell down beside him. So may be the end of the date was not that romantic, but later that night James healed, traced and licked all his bruises, so it wasn't that bad.
April 1978
James was sitting in his room at their house. The tips of his ears and his cheeks were rather red. Sirius who was bent over laughing was also not helping the situation.
"Oh James!, love of my life, apple of my eye, father of my future children!" said Sirius, eyes still glistening with mirth.
"Shut up, it was not funny." said James. Being caught snogging your best friend in the living room by your parents (who by the way said that they wouldn't be back till late at night) is really embarrassing. Even if that is not embarrassing enough, getting "Relationship Talk" by your parents with your best friend/boyfriend by your side while having a boner is.
It went something like this;
James and Sirius decided to visit Mr and Mrs Potter for Easter holidays, but had to spend most of the time alone since they were busy with the Order, about which they refused to tell them anything.
So in James' defence, his parents said they would be late, when they walked in the house to find their son on top of his best friend, both of them shirtless,(and maybe James had his hand in Sirius'pants, Thanks Merlin, his parents didn't see that) and snogging like their life depended on it.
James and Sirius detached from each other, when they heard a squeak, and saw Mr and Mrs Potter standing in the doorway with their mouths open. They both put their shirts back on quickly, as James turned eight shades of red, and sat crossed legs.
"It's not what it looks like..."
"Why did you.... "
"When did it.... "
All three Potters started at the same time, and stopped together to give each other a moment to speak. Sirius cleared his throat, and the Potters turned to face him. His cheeks turned pink.
"We forgot that we did not tell you before." he added "We were going to tell you, it just slipped our minds". James was nodding along, because it seemed like the best thing to do.
Mrs Potter burst into tears and Sirius could swear that he heard Mr. Potter squeal.
"We are so happy for you boys! " she said pulling them in a hug, which they returned awkwardly. It went on for half an hour before they were allowed to go back to their place.
May 1978
"Hey Prongs!"shouted Sirius from the stands. Remus and Peter were standing behind him carrying snacks for the team. The team looked more relieved than him to see his friends. James called the team to end today's practice, but they were already moving to stands to accept the snacks. James sighed and flew towards Sirius.
"You look serious" said Sirius and snickered at his own pun.
"What do you want?" asked James suspiciously as he leaned in to kiss him.
"Who says I want something? " said Sirius with a fake look of innocence. James just raised one eyebrow at him and took the chocolate from his hand.
"You know, this weekend, you have Quidditch practice but it's also Hogsmade weekend.... "He trailed off.
"So? " said James
"Can't you cancel the practice?" asked Sirius quickly, but before James could say something, Sirius continued, "you are already making them practice five days a week, and it's the last weekend before OWLs and NEWTs, if you hold the practice, I am sure Lizzy is planning to poison your food," he added "and also your team bribed me, so you have to do it."
"What did they bribe you with? " asked James with a grin.
"You can take half of them." said Sirius as he started listing the things, each team member was giving him. A week later, both of them had new jackets, a big stash of chocolates, latest Quidditch magazines, and now James was making the team practice six days a week.
June 1978
Last week many students were called to Professor Dumbledore's office where they were finally told about, and asked to join, the Order to fight against Voldemort, to which almost all of them agreed immediately.
It was their last night at Hogwarts, so they decided to throw one last party in the Gryffindor common room. All of them were drunk and alternating between crying and giggling .
Even Professor McGonagall was present and did nothing to stop them.Peter decided to add alcohol in her drink, so now she was slow dancing with Lily in the middle of common room. Peter was reciting poetry and Remus was cheering loudly for him after every single word. James and Sirius were saying goodbye to the team, hugging all of them one by one. Even if Sirius was not on the team, he was the unofficial part of them after years of providing them with snacks and amazing commentary.
At some point during the night, Sirius decided to hug all his previous girlfriends and James spent that time recalling and shouting all the excellent goals (which were many), he had made during his school years.
Tomorrow another chapter will end in their lives, and they will start a new chapter, fighting their battles, maybe losing some of their friends in this war, but they will try together, and succeed, by being there for each other and helping each other.