It takes two | Sirius Black

4.

"Fuck." James mumbles as he watches his best friend stare into space, "Pads?"

Pete glances nervously at Sirius, unsure of what is happening. He feels as though he's missed out on some big secret as James and Remus continued to look at Sirius with deep concern on their faces.

"Pads?" James repeats louder.

"Hmm?" Sirius looks from the fireplace to his best friend. His brother.

"Are you the Father?" He asks nervously, pushing his glasses up his nose.

Sirius looks taken aback, this is the first time he'd been asked directly. He could tell from the way his three best friends were looking at him, that this was not another one of their jokes. His eyes suddenly began filling with panicked tears. James immediately rushed to his side, cuddling him as tightly as possible causing Sirius to cry even harder.

"I can't..I can't be."

They had been trying to figure this mystery out for months and the answer had been staring them in the face. No wonder Sirius Black had been lashing out and acting weird; he was going to be a Dad!

Everything started to make sense, the fight in potions with Snape- he lashed out because he had called her a whore and the baby a bastard. He wasn't protecting James, he was protecting her.

Pete and Remus exchange worrisome glances as James continues to rock his best friend. Sirius Black never cried. In all the years the Marauders had been friends, he had never once broke down in front of them.

"We got this." James says confidently, "All four of us. We're Marauders, we're in this together."

"Yeah!" Pete agrees eagerly, "We're a package deal!"

James nods, "See? We can figure it out."

"She won't even speak to me." Sirius mutters, "I've known since she came back from Christmas.. I knew."

"Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell us?" James quizzes, searching his best friends face for answers.

"I wasn't ready to grow up and be a Dad."

"Oh..are you ready now?"

"Fuck no." Sirius scoffs, "But I want to at least try..I don't want to be like my parents and I'm shit scared I'll turn out like them."

James frowns, "You're a Potter. You're only a Black by blood."

Sirius cracks a weak smile, "God, our parents are going to kill me."

"Probably."

*******

"How did this even happen? I thought you loathed her?" James questions, shoving sweets in his mouth eagerly awaiting answers.

Sirius scoffs, "I was seeing her from September in secret."

"You sneaky fucker!" James says offended, "You didn't tell us!"

"It was different." Sirius shrugs, "I wanted to..I wanted to keep her safe. Keep her from my brother and just keep her to myself."

"Well that's just fucking selfish." James sulks, "We're best friends! We're supposed to share everything!"

"Alright fine, I'd fall asleep with her in my arms every night, that's why I was always in the Great Hall first. It was quicker to go from the Prefects bathroom straight down. Didn't want to accidentally wake you up. I don't what it was about her. My eyes would just find her in every crowded room. I craved her when we were apart. I don't know what went wrong.." He shrugs, "I fucked her daily and we snuck around constantly-"