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There were whispers among the students as Sirius entered the castle along with James and Charles but before they could talk about anything else, they met Professor McGonagall near the doors as she engulfed Sirius in her arms. Even though Charles, freed himself from the boy, James still had a hand behind Sirius. When Minerva broke the hug and saw his hand, she cuffed his head before pulling him into a brief hug.

"Woah", exclaimed James when she broke the hug. "Am I finally your second favorite now, Minnie?"

Minerva rolled her eyes before turning to the eldest Potter. "Charles, could you accompany me to my room? Both of you too. I will not take too much of your time."

"Take all our time, Minnie", said Sirius.

"Never regret taking our time because we are yours", said James.

Minerva let out a long-suffering sigh and looked at Charles. Charles laughed out loud and raised his hands. "Don't look at me. I am not the one training them."

"Now you realize what I have to put through every day with these two?", she muttered as she walked towards the castle.

"Don't break our hearts, Minnie", said James.

"You love us", said Sirius.

Minerva just shook her head as they went to her personal quarters. To their surprise, Lily Evans was sitting there too. The girl had fear in her eyes as she saw James but the heightened senses of Padfoot smelled the faint smell of the blood.

Sirius rushed to her side. "Hey, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Lily was shocked for a moment before shaking her head. "I am fine", she said before wrapping an arm around Sirius's waist and didn't leave even when Minerva asked everyone to sit down. Instead, she just wrapped her hands around Sirius's arm this time, half-hugging him.

Charles just patted her head before taking his seat beside James, who surprisingly didn't protest to sit beside Sirius.

"Mr. Potter, I want to know what happened back there?", asked Minerva.

"Nothing much. Just Voldemort wanting Sirius and me to join his boy band", said James.

"What?", screamed Charles. "James, how the hell are you on his radar even without stepping into the war?"

"Maybe, it's because of me, Mr. P", muttered Sirius. "Uncle Cygnus was talking to Voldemort about me. I guess they thought I would join him if Jay was allowed to join along with me. I am sorry for risking Jay's life like that."

"Knowing James and seeing him interact with Voldemort, I think James would put himself on Voldemort's radar sooner or later without your input", said Lily beside him.

Charles chuckled. "I think the Lady is much smarter than you two."

"She is the prefect for a reason", said Minerva before huffing. "Why do they want two teenagers to join their ranks? It doesn't make sense."

"It does, Minerva", said Charles. "Sirius is the heir of House Black. Even disowned, his training had been the toughest among all the pureblood families. And his blood might be the purest one. Not to mention he is a descendant of Salazar himself. It would hurt their pride and ego if Sirius fought on this side of the war. Him being sorted into Gryffindor would itself be a matter of shame for them."

"Wouldn't anyone bother asking Sirius on which side he wants to fight?", asked Lily, enraged on Sirius's behalf.

Charles smiled sadly. "They are pureblood supremacists, love. You don't expect them to be courteous, do you?"

Lily groaned. "Let's just drop a nuclear bomb and get it done with." When the wizards looked at each other with confusion, Lily shook her head. "It's something muggles use for massive destruction. Not often though otherwise humans would have been extinct by now." She pulled Sirius into a hug before freeing his arm. "I will go and check on Marlene."

"What happened to Marlene?", asked James.

Lily glanced at Minerva before sighing. "Marlene didn't know the power of Sirius's shield charm and when Voldemort and the others raised their wands, she tried to push Sirius aside. Unfortunately, she tripped and there was a scuffle and she injured her head pretty badly. Her parents have been called upon. Madam Pomphrey is checking her injuries", she said before kneeling down in front of Sirius, holding his hands. "She might lose her memories. It's not confirmed yet but there is a possibility."

Sirius frowned in confusion as he saw the sympathy in the green orbs of Lily. "What do you mean?"

Lily didn't explain. "Come and meet her soon, okay? Her parents are thinking of pulling her from Hogwarts. She might permanently move from England."

As Lily patted his hand once again and left the room, James was beside him in an instant. "Hey, don't overthink, okay? Let's not jump to conclusions and wait for Poppy to work her magic, yeah?"

"Jay", muttered Sirius before burying his head on Jay's shoulder.

XXX

As it turned out, Marlene had really lost her memories and according to Poppy, tampering with the fragile state of her mind would only damage her brain to either permanently lose her memories or worse, like her brain being shut off completely. It was the closest the war had hit the students, one amongst them, and the whole of Hogwarts were trying to visit the girl, giving her chocolates or cards wishing her recovery. When Sirius went to the hospital wing, James was right there beside him. When Sirius saw the polite smile on Marlene's face and the absence of any warmth in her voice as she replied hello to them, something broke inside Sirius's heart. When James took over because Sirius was unable to utter a single word, Sirius sighed in relief because he felt he temporarily had speech impairment. When he slipped out of the room without a sound, none of them noticed him.

It was easy to avoid people because there were hardly any students in the castle. He could have gone to the common room and it would have been fine but somehow his feet took him to the Astronomy Tower. Sirius sat down taking the wall as the support and pulled his knees close. He wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his head between them before crying his heart out for a friend he had lost, for a love he had never fully experienced.

He didn't know how much time he was crying. It felt like everything from a few seconds to days. His heart felt like it was ready to stop beating as if it was too heavy to stay inside his body. His lungs didn't seem like it was getting any oxygen inside. His throat had closed off. His whole body felt as if it was collapsing until he felt arms around him.

Sirius, breathe with me, love.

As the voice whispered words in his ears, words unrecognized by his brain, he tried to breathe. One hand was rubbing circles in his back and the other was stroking his hair. Hair which was so precious to him that he had only let two people touch it. One of whom doesn't remember him now. He gasped at the realization and a new wave of sobs erupted from his throat. The arms around him just got tighter as though they were just gluing his broken heart by the sheer stubborn force of will.

"Hey, hey. Just stop your thoughts and concentrate on my voice. Can you hear my heartbeat? Any sounds around you? Anything? Concentrate on the sound."

Sirius followed the person and only once he felt he had some control over himself, he realized the person had a softer touch than Jay. It meant the person wasn't Jay. Sirius broke the hug and wasn't really surprised to find Lily. He was thankful even. Lily had seen him at his lowest points and still stuck by. "Thank you", he muttered, the words forced out of his throat.

"I won't ask if you are okay but she is one of my closest friends too, Sirius", said Lily. "We are at a war and I am not saying what happened is okay but it's not unexpected. At least, in this case, we could be happy that she would be alive. Her parents are taking her as far away from England as possible. Even if she doesn't remember any of us, she will be alive. We would keep even her share of our memories with us. And who says her memories wouldn't return? If she is lucky, the war would be long over before they do."

Sirius glanced at the girl, ignoring the tears streaming from his eyes, as her words slowly sunk inside his head. "I can do that?", he muttered.

Lily smiled sadly. "I know you love her. But you know what's the highest form of love? To pray for their happiness even if it's not with us. It would be hard losing her, of course. But Sirius, you are not alone. You are never alone."

When Sirius nodded, she kissed the top of his head and brushed the tears from his face just as James made his way to the tower. He knelt down and all but squeezed Sirius into his arms. "Here you are and I was searching for you all over the castle."

Lily shook her head before silently gesturing to Sirius that she was leaving. Once she was gone, Sirius patted James on his back. "It's stupid. You have the map."

James pulled away from the hug before brushing his arms through his already messy hair. "You were missing. I wouldn't have gone to the room to bring the map."

"Don't be stupid, Jay. It's faster and easier than searching all over the castle."

"Well, I didn't search the whole castle but I was so worried."

Sirius didn't say anything to that. James sighed and sat beside him, an arm still around Sirius's shoulders. "I talked to Mars, you know. It all felt wrong. She had this whole serene demeanor to her unlike the firecracker she was, it felt as if she had been transferred from some parallel universe. Even Mr. and Mrs. McKinnon had to introduce themselves as her parents. I talked to Poppy too. Head injury like this could take a couple of days to years for the person to come into their previous self and Poppy did her best. I just, I just don't know what to do."

And it scared Sirius. Jay was someone who always had plans, however absurd they might be. That's how they have a ten-year plan to take over the DADA position at Hogwarts or to kill Voldemort or even as simple as kidnap Regulus so that he stops being an idiot. If Jay didn't know what to do, it might be a dead-end. "We were in a relationship."

"What?", yelled James, snapping his head towards Sirius.

"It was only a couple of days. Remember, when I went to apologize to Marlene after Hogsmeade weekend with Regulus?", asked Sirius, and continued when James nodded. "She was jealous of Reg and I didn't like the way she left me. I asked her if we could give this a try and that if it didn't work out, we could always go back to being friends. Marlene agreed on the condition that we keep the whole relationship a secret. That she couldn't bear your overprotectiveness if you got to know about our relationship. She said she would hex you into pieces if you followed her around."

James laughed softly. "Sounds like something Marlene would say."

Sirius smiled beside him.

"Why did you come back from there?", asked James. "Why didn't you at least try to talk to her?"

"What do you want me to say, Jay? Hey, Mars, I am sorry you don't remember but we have been dancing around each other for years and just started a secret relationship that none of the people in our lives know about. So, you can just trust the word of me, a practical stranger, and get back to me", he said and chuckled. "Also, Jay, as you said, it all felt wrong. She doesn't even know me, Jay."

"Will you be ever okay?", asked James.

Sirius felt himself smiling. "Lily said even if this was unfortunate, at least she would be happy now and away from the war. She would be alive so it was something to feel happy about?"

"What about your heart then?"

Sirius tried to pull a smirk. It felt more like a grimace. "What are you talking about, Jay? Remember, I am Sirius Black, the heartbreaker? I don't get my heart broken. It's the other way round. Anyway, who wouldn't even love me?"

Jay threw himself at Sirius. "There is no one in their right state of mind who wouldn't love you."

And Sirius held on to James. Even if there was no one in his life, if he had Jay with him, life would at least be bearable. He shuddered to think of the other possibility and promised to kill Voldemort before he could even touch Jay again.

XXX

When they returned to their dorm room, James made Sirius sit on his bed, before giving him some water. Peter was instantly beside them but Remus was still on his bed, even though he was looking at the two boys.

"How did you two escape?", said Peter, fear evident in his voice. "I thought I would never see you."

James rolled his eyes. "Pete, it was not even the fight. He is just being stupid."

Peter looked at the two boys in a mix of fear and awe. James sighed. They didn't actually fight Voldemort. Just Sirius casting a really strong shield charm and they got lucky. There was some reason for the fear in Peter's voice but it was not today. Today, he would rather concentrate on Sirius and feel grateful that at least all of his friends were alive. As Lily said, there could be something worse that might have happened to Marlene. Something irreversible and James didn't know what to do if there came a day when he would lose his friends to Voldemort. He wanted to finish the whole Voldemort drama before the day arrived.

They sat silently for a long moment, wrapping their heads around them when Mary knocked on their dorm asking if they wanted to say goodbye to Marlene. Sirius hunched in on himself and James excused both him and Sirius saying they already had their farewells.

"What happened to Marlene?", muttered Remus.

It was the first time Remus uttered a word since they came into the room. "Moony, where were you?", said James.

Remus fisted his hands and James mentally noted if they were near to the full moon. The moon still had a few more days, but Remus's question made Mary burst out crying and surprisingly, it was Sirius who had answered him.

"Marlene had an accident, nothing involving Voldemort. She lost her memories and her parents are taking her away from London", he said.

Sirius's voice was ice-cold and James knew he was using all his training to be that emotionless.

Remus might have realized that too because he turned to Mary and patted her arm. "If Marlene had lost her memories, I don't think it would matter to her if I said goodbye or not. My friend needs me more than Marlene right now."

Peter, who looked like he was torn between going and staying behind, stayed at the doorstep as Remus gave a short hug to Mary. "Pete, accompany Mary to the hospital. I will stay with these two."

Even then it took a moment but then Peter agreed and he along with Mary left. Remus closed the door and put a silencing charm on their door.

"Guys, what happened back there?", asked Remus.

James huffed. "Where were you, Remus?", he muttered. Because James was tired and he really needed a hug or maybe to sleep.

Remus crossed his arms. "Oh, I don't know, Prongs. I was being 'safe and staying alive' inside the safety of our room until you deemed it was safe enough for us to walk outside."

James winced and stood up from his place. Remus was royally pissed. "What?", he asked. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?", said Remus, rolling his eyes. "You don't think I could have a chance standing against Voldemort? Do you?"

"Moons, you know, it's not the truth."

"Really?", asked Remus. "It felt like it. Poor Moony can't even defend himself. So, let's just send him to the castle."

"Moony, you are the best and you are a prefect for a reason", said James.

Remus nodded his head. "Yeah, in books. Of course."

"Because you are a werewolf, you idiot", said Sirius, finally losing his patience.

James felt more than saw Remus flinching at Sirius's words as he choked back a sob. The insecurity deeply ingrained in his head would not vanish just because a bunch of three idiots became Animagi to help him. James knew the change wouldn't be overnight but he just realized there is a lot more work to be done so that Moony would never question his worth. And then there is Sirius, who hardly has a filter on his words, especially in front of his friends. "A little more tact would have been appreciated, Sirius." When Sirius just rolled his eyes, James cuffed his head before pulling Moony to sit between them. "Moony you are a goddamn genius and we are nothing without you. Even if the whole of Hogwarts refuses, you are the mastermind behind half of the pranks. As I said, we wanted you hidden and safe, not because we thought you couldn't defend yourself but since the start of the summer, Voldemort has been recruiting werewolves. It's not news enough to come into the papers but we heard-"

Remus snorted, cutting James mid-speech. "More like you eavesdropped."

Even Sirius smiled at that and James grinned in reply, without bothering to deny. "Yes, we eavesdropped when my parents were talking", he continued. "We don't know what Voldemort has promised them but Fenrir Greyback is in line with Voldemort. Reg's the witness at some family party. Hence, we thought, it would be safer, if you wouldn't be on Voldemort's Radar."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "You think I would align with him?"

"You fold socks for Merlin's sake", exclaimed Sirius.

James laughed. "What he meant is, we trust you Moons but not them. You need to learn Occlumency and Legilimency and be an adult before going into the fight. I know we would be part of this fight sooner or later and I don't want anyone to manipulate you against your own will. Until then, I would do everything to protect my friends."

Sirius bumped Remus's shoulders. "Congratulations, Moony, for getting him as your personal mother-hen. Hopefully, he will divert some attention from me to you."

James cuffed his head. "Says the biggest attention seeker ever."

Remus finally had a smile on his face but then it dropped as he settled on the bed such that he was facing both Sirius and James. "Okay, sorry for the outburst. Back to the original topic. What did Voldemort want with you two? Did you two secretly piss him off without telling me?"

"Moony-pie, what are you talking about?", said Sirius. "We wouldn't survive Voldemort without you. As Jay said earlier, you are the mastermind."

When Moony gave a stern look to bring them back to the point, James wrapped an arm around Sirius. "He wanted both of us to join him in the war."

"You two? But you aren't even of age", said Remus. "Is he really recruiting teenagers now?"

Sirius shook his head. "It's my fault actually. Uncle Cygnus told Voldemort about me. Probably, they wanted to boast about the Black heir in their team."

James rubbed his arm. "Sirius, it's not your fault. It's your stupid uncle's fault because he doesn't know what Voldemort is capable of. I am sure if your grandfather knew about your uncle, he would disown him before you."

"It's really disconcerting about him asking you two to join him. And you have defied him", muttered Remus.

Sirius and James grinned identically and Remus just shook his head. 

A/N: As I said earlier, we know Harry's parents had defied Voldemort thrice and I know it's Lily and James but somehow I feel Sirius is more of a parent to Harry too. Hence, one for James and Sirius. I will include Lily somewhere too. Right now, she is not of any importance for Voldemort to be bothered by her. 

I believe in the books, the war became more serious after Cedric's death. Because, they are a bunch of kids whose greatest worry was either homework or the next Quidditch match or the house points. But when the war is at your doorstep? Even kids are forced into it. I didn't want to deal with a death of a student here hence, it's just an accident of Marlene but the war has officially started.