Chapter 7

Greg vanished around the corner, leaving Sirius alone with his own thoughts. He'd have to cheat on James every night now. There was no option. Well, there was, but it wasn't a pleasant option that Sirius wanted to think about right then. How could Greg do this to him? What had Sirius done to him?

Sirius didn't even knowGreguntil recently, although he did look somewhat familiar. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Sirius remembered a type of interaction with him. But what did that have to do with anything? It was just supposed to be a one night thing, not an ongoing occurance. Why had Greg targetted him, Sirius, speciffically?

It was then that a thought suddenly came back to Sirius.

"I'd like you to meet my son, Greg," Mrs. Donovan said, pushing the boy forward. He had light brown hair and a muscular build despite how young he was.

Sirius gazed at the boy with mild distaste. It wasn't that he didn't like him because of his appearance, but he was the son of one of his mother's friends. That automatically meant that he would most likely end up being a nasty Slytherin with warped views of muggles and muggle born children.

Mrs. Black prodded her son in the back and Sirius shook Greg's hand reluctantly. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he greeted formally, disliking the boy even more as his eyes flashed with disdain and little interest.

"Charmed, I'm sure," he muttered and then pulled away, following his mother as she led him to the other room after Mrs. Black. Sirius stared after them both before hastily following.

Greg Donovan. He had the power to destroy Sirius's life in a moment, in a sparse heartbeat. Sirius shivered and slid against the wall to the floor. His life suddenly got a lot worse. Sirius had a feeling that the leering glare in Greg's eyes now meant more, a hidden threat. Greg could easily call his mother and have her contact the Dark Lord and kill James and his family. Well, maybe not just like that, but she still had very powerful contacts.

Now Sirius had a vague idea as to why he was being put through this. Greg had attempted to be Sirius's friend and Sirius had wanted to have nothing to do with him. Instead of befriending him, Sirius had shunned Greg, causing him to become resentful and angry at Sirius. Now Greg had the perfect opportunity to destroy everything that Sirius had gained, everything that he had worked so hard to gain and keep in his life. And Greg could destroy it all with just a few words.

"Shit," whispered Sirius, shaking his head, wishing that he had never even thought of the idea of prostitution. If only he couldhave seen the future…ha-ha-ha. Wishful thinking never got anyone anywhere.

Well, on the upside, at least Sirius knew what not to do. He was not going to do anything that could possibly get Greg angry at him. That would put both him and James in danger. What Sirius didn't understand was how Greg got into Hufflepuff if he was so evil. His family had generations of dark wizards, just like his.

Unsteadily, Sirius got to his feet and began walking to the Great Hall again. He did not really want to have to face Remus's knowing gazes and James confused innocence but there wasn't much else that he could do.

He entered the Great Hall and saw Remus and James sitting together eating and chatting in between bites. Well, what in the world could possibly happen? he wondered as he walked over and sat down next to James, grinning.

"Where'd you go?" asked James, looking at him intently. Sirius glanced at Remus to see if he had told James what he knew. Remus shook his head almost imperceptibly to show that he hadn't said anything to James. Just like he had promised.

"I went to the library," Sirius said after a moment, "to turn in a book that I had used on a potions essay."

Remus raised his eyebrowsat the same excuseJames had used beforewhile James looked at him with confusion on his face.

"We had a potions essay?" he asked, thinking over the past few days, completely oblivious to the fact that he had said the same thing to avoid confrontation. Remus sighed and turned his attention back to his food. Sirius shrugged and piled some food onto his plate and also began eating.

James glanced in between his two friends, bewildered. Sirius wasn't acting like his usual self. He seemed nervous, jumpy, as if he had a secret. Usually carefree, Sirius hardly ever showed that he had any worries or cares. Now he seemed to be nothing but a bundle of nerves.

Remus also seemed different. He seemed quieter. Well, not when it was just James, but the second that Sirius had sat down next to him, Remus had gone oddly silent and even more withdrawn than usual. Maybe he wasn't comfortable with his two best friends dating. That didn't seem right though. Remus had been so happy when he had found out about their newfound relationship. He had expected it.

flashback

James entered the common room feeling light as a feather that evening. Everything was turning out perfectly! His best friend was gay and he was gay and they both liked each other and life was just perfect! Nothing could possibly destroy the awesome way he was feeling right then.

Remus watched his friend with raised eyebrows. "Alright, now that we're alone, mind telling me what happened?"

James smiled and did a twirl of happiness, causing him to randomly get dizzy and fall into one of the couches by the fireplace. Remus walked over and sat down next to him with a slightly exasperated expression on his face. "Am I right in thinking that a certain somebody returns feelings?" he asked. James nodded, a look of pure elation on his face.

"Yes," he breathed, seeming to replay the day's events in his mind. "I talked to him and told him I was gay and he was like that's cool and then….we kissed. It was such an incredible kiss too! It was like…whoa. And then he asked if we wanted to be boyfriends and I said yes because…I want to be his boyfriend."

Remus grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. "That's great, Prongs! I'm just assuming that I won't have to hear about every little detail of your time together."

James smiled slightly and shook his head. "Perhaps."

James smiled dimly at that thought. Remus always seemed to think of what could go wrong with any given situation. But what was wrong? Usually Sirius and Remus got along perfectly. The only times they didn't cooperate were when Sirius did something incredibly stupid. Remus would get frustrated and become withdrawn from his dark haired friend until he was able to look at the situation with an open point of view.

James looked at Sirius, whose eyes were cast down on his plate as he silently ate, and then swept over to Remus who was pulling out a text book to go over some lesson that they had had in transfiguration. James frowned. It wasn't normal for the Marauders to be anything but the closest, loudest group of friends in the school. And James's friends were definitely not acting like they normally did.

He sighed and finished eating his breakfast begrudgingly. He'd figure out what was going on between them and then fix whatever it was.

A.N. Any good? Didn't think so. Oh well. Please review anyway.