Passion Dies

Chapter 14

James' POV

James had already checked every hallway, common room (even Slytherin), and bathroom. He was growing very worried. He ran up the winding steps to the Astronomy Tower; the one place he hadn't yet checked.

He looked around the tower frantically, spotting someone asleep in the corner. He sighed in relief. 'Jareth,' he thought. He ran over to his sleeping brother, gently shaking him awake.

"AHHH! Bloody hell, James! Don't scare me like that!" Jareth sighed in relief and wiped his sticky, wet cheeks.

"SCARE YOU?! YOU SCARED THE BLOODY SHIT OUT OF ME, JARETH!

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" James yelled.

"I'm sorry, okay? Geez, I just fell asleep on accident up here," Jareth said, stretching. James looked into Jareth's swollen, red eyes and it clicked.

"Were you crying?" James asked calmly, trying to reassure his brother.

"N-No... I was, uhhhh... Smoking?" Jareth said though it sounded more like a question.

"Right, okay. What happened?" James asked softly. Jareth looked down, biting his lip.

"I had a fight with my... friend," Jareth said quietly. 'Rather long hesitation before friend... Woah, does he have a girlfriend..?!'

"Do you have a girlfriend?" James asked abruptly.

"What?! NO, what the hell, James?"

"Well you hesitated before saying friend and I just assumed that maybe it meant girlfriend," James said defensively. Jareth laughed.

"No, I definitely do not have a girlfriend," Jareth said, slightly blushing. James didn't notice due to Jareth's, already, rosy cheeks.

"Alright then, was it another guy?" James asked obliviously.

"What? James..." Jareth said, blushing deeply. James noticed that time because of Jareth's shaking hands.

"Jare, are you-"

"W-WHAT, NO, I-"

"Jareth, you always stutter when you're lying. Tell me the truth, it's okay." James reassured his little brother. Jareth sighed in defeat.

"Okay, James, please don't say freak out of anything but I... I might be gay..." There was a long pause between the two boys.Suddenly, James hugged him. He didn't say anything, just hugged him for a few minutes. James didn't give hugs very often, so Jareth took in the moment and hugged him back, subconsciously starting to cry. Soon, James pulled away, looking at Jareth.

"You know I'll always be here for you, right?" James said, throwing an arm around Jareth's shoulders. Jareth smiled in reply.

"Okay, Jareth, I know it might be hard, but can you tell me what happened last night? Did he hurt you? Who is he? Do I need to fight him?" James asked a million questions, wanting to know who'd done this to his brother.

"I can't tell you who, but I can tell you what happened. We, uh, kissed a while ago... and we met last night to talk about what we wanted to do next. Well, we decided to be together and everything was fine. But he wanted to be out and public about it... and I didn't. I don't want him to get hurt. But he... he was so stubborn and was yelling and-and it turned into a fight. He left me here alone, crying my eyes out. He basically broke up with me, even if we weren't technically together. I don't know, it's pretty stupid..." Jareth trailed off, crying more now.

"It's not stupid. The bloody asshole didn't take your feelings into account. He hurt you. Who is he, Jareth? I want to... talk to him," James said, trying to maintain his anger.

"I can't tell you, James, I'm sorry," Jareth said, shaking his head.

"Jareth... please talk to me. You can tell me anything. I'm your brother," James said protectively.

"All I can tell you is that a friend of ours," Jareth said. 'A friend of ours...'

"Okay. You should go rest. It's nearly three a.m. The first day of class, you know," James said, smiling. Jareth nodded and walked down with James. Before they parted ways, James hugged him quickly again.

"Love you, Little Brother."

"You're only thirty seconds older than me," Jareth said, smiling.

"Still older," James said, walking towards the Gryffindor dormitories.

He thought about who it could be. 'Remus...? No, I saw him fall asleep. Peter...? No, Jareth was standard.' He paced the hallway quietly, thinking. Then it hit him. It made perfect sense. 'Sirius. He's stubborn, a bit of an asshole, very dramatic, and he didn't get back until around 2... He seemed angry, too...' With how oblivious James was, sometimes, he could be pretty smart.

James was fuming. His best mate hurt his brother. He turned angrily and gave the Fat Lady the password, walking into the common room. He saw nothing but the raging fire and decor on the walls. James rushed up the stairs and burst into his room, where Remus, Peter, and, most importantly, Sirius was asleep, but James saw that Sirius was tossing and turning trying to find a comfortable position. James quietly walked over to Sirius and stood over his bed.

"Sirius. A word," James whispered, staring Sirius down angrily. Sirius looked at Remus and Peter cautiously before getting up and following James out of the dorms, then the common room, into the hallway, and out the doors to the lawn.

"What's going on, James?" Sirius asked once James stopped walking. James' back was to Sirius. James whipped around, glaring at his "friend".

"So what did you do tonight, Sirius?" James asked, already knowing the answer.

"Oh, I just relaxed at the astronomy tower for a bit. The stars were lovely last night," he replied.

"Really? Because someone told me otherwise," James said, glaring still. Even madder now that Sirius lied to him. Sirius paled a bit.

"I don't know what you're talking about, mate," he said, quickly covering his fear with a laugh.

"Oh, shove off, Sirius, I know what you did to my brother," James spat.

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A/N

I told you it was worth it!