𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍.
chapter forty-six; The Boys Are Back
" I'm emotionally invested in this. "

  SIRIUS BLACK PANICKED slightly when he heard footsteps growing gradually louder, he was trapped so he'd get in trouble no matter what but he knew a cigarette would be worse than being out past curfew. He dropped it on the ground, stomping on it quickly, and turning to face whatever professor had come to reprimand him, only to find Madeline and James Potter snickering.

  "Damn," Sirius cursed under his breath, lifting his foot and peering at the squashed cigarette, "One of you owes me."

  "You're the one who stomped it out," Madeline laughed.

  "You two scared me!" Sirius defended, paying full attention to his company for the first time, "You two— you're not— I mean, unless you've teamed up to shove me off the tower—"

  "How'd he know?"

  "Too clever."

  "We simply must do better."

  Sirius stared at the twins with half-smile.

  "James decided to stop being a twat," Madeline explained, receiving no disagreement from James, "It was a real film moment, lots of emotions and honesty, blah, blah, blah."

  "But, uh," James cleared his throat loudly, "Well, I was a twat for what I did to Maddie— but I'm sort of just a huge dickhead for what I did to you."

  "Those are, basically, the same thing," Madeline said with scrunched brows.

  "They're different," Sirius defended, making the brunette raise her hands in defeat.

  "You're my best mate," James continued, undeterred, "I can't believe I almost screwed that up— I don't know what I'd do without you. I mean, really, without you. I trust you with my life, Padfoot, I'm sorry I didn't trust you with Mads. And that it made you two. . . hide it and breakup and then I made everyone feel like shit—"

  James stopped abruptly as Sirius collided with him in a hug. And all James could do was clap his arms around Sirius tightly, trying to hug him with half as much force.

  "I love you, mate," Sirius said tightly, holding back tears, "And I'm sorry for lying."

  "I love you, too," James said, pulling away but keeping one arm strongly on Sirius' shoulder, "Forgive you, mate."

  A sniffle alerted the boys, both of them turning to Madeline quickly. She was smiling softly, though this morphed into a laugh as their eyes were on her— she was crying. Not fully sobbing, just emotions through the rough she couldn't hold them back.

  "I think Mads has gone soft on us," James announced.

  "Oh, shut it," Madeline said, walking towards the boys and hugging both of them.

  They only smiled at this and accepted the hug, because, despite all the time and fighting it had taken to get there, one thing had always remained. They cared about each other. All of them, in different ways, but they were there, in the spring night air, mending what had so badly been broken.

ϟ

  "So, James had this crazy idea that he made up with both you and Sirius last night," Lily began speaking as soon as she took a seat beside Madeline, not minding that the girl was halfway through a makeshift turkey sandwich, "And I told him he must be going mad, because surely you wouldn't have seen me in Potions, and chatted with me, without telling me about it, right?"

  Madeline swallowed thickly.

  "Madeline!" Lily gasped, hitting the girl's arm, making Madeline frown and cup her elbow, "This is big news, why didn't you tell me?"

  "Uh, I dunno," Madeline said finally, "Doesn't feel real to me, either, I guess."

  "Well, it is," Lily grinned, "We should go to Hogsmeade this weekend, grab butterbeer?"

  "You just want me to tell you exactly what happened and exactly how it happened."

  "I've been wanting you two to make up for nearly a year, I'm emotionally invested in this," Lily defended genuinely, "Just say yes. Please? We can study for NEWTs next week."

  "NEWTs are coming up so quickly," Madeline groaned due to Lily's reminder, "It's already nearly May— how is that possible?"

  "Time is perpetual," Lily deadpanned.

  "Fine, fine, butterbeer this weekend, but you'll owe me a study session."

  "Promise!"

  Lily hopped up from the table quickly, making her way back to the one covered in red and gold. Madeline went back to her sandwich, ignoring the dumbfounded stares of Bluebelle and Kai.

  "Were you going to, I don't know, tell anyone that James finally got over himself?" Bluebelle asked abruptly.

  "I said I didn't feel like it was real," Madeline defended through a mouthful of food, "Plus, it was last night, past curfew, it's not like it's been a long time."

  "What Blue means is we're glad that's over," Kai said, scrunching his brows, "Or, we're glad it's not over? You know what we mean, right?"

  "Yeah," She laughed, "I get it."

  "Well, I'm glad you're out of the woods, mostly," Bluebelle said, half-smiling.

  "Mostly?"

  "Your boy and brother troubles may be over, but we still have to finish school."

  "Yeah, and figure out what we're doing outside of it."

  "Well, actually," Kai cleared his throat, "I might be playing professional quidditch this time next year."

  "No way, for who?" Madeline asked with an excited grin.

  "Puddlemere United," Kai announced, "But— nothing's set in stone, it was just a half-offer—"

  "You're going to play for Puddlemere United," The Potter girl repeated with a bright smile, "That's huge, Kai! I'm so proud of you!"

  Kai just laughed as Madeline reached across the table and pulled him up into a hug, briefly making eye contact with a grinning Bluebelle. He wouldn't admit he'd been nervous to tell them, nervous Madeline would be upset he'd been offered a spot on a quidditch team while she hadn't, but all of that was wiped away the second her eyes lit up.

  And now Kai could fully be elated about his future career, because he knew for sure that not only his girlfriend, but his best friend would both be in the stands cheering for him. Or against him. It depended who he'd be playing against— regardless they'd be there and that's what mattered to him.

( AUTHOR'S NOTE. )
THE BROTP IS BACK
AND BETTER BABY