Let It Happen

Sirius couldn't focus on much besides the pounding pain in his temples. Small sips of water and bites of toast in Great Hall started to alleviate some of the pain as the minutes went on. It wasn't the worst hangover he'd ever had, but there was one certain factor that could make his day or destroy his life.

Remus.

From what Sirius could remember, he confessed his true feelings to Remus last night then kissed him. That was the last solid memory he had, it was as though someone had cast a half-assed memory charm on him. James was missing in action too; last time Sirius saw him, he was with Severus - no surprises there.

A wayward brown curl fell in Sirius' eyes, he tried to brush it away but it kept falling back in place. He flicked his head back, finally managing to keep the curl out of his face, and locked eyes with Remus from across the hall.

He ditched his outer robes and sported the grey sweater and black slacks instead. His sandy brown hair was tousled lightly like it was disturbed by a breeze outside the Great Hall. When he met Sirius' eyes, his face lit up. It was a look that Sirius thought Remus should have more often.

"Hey," Sirius started weakly when Remus sat opposite him at the Gryffindor table. Remus shot him an easy smile, but something felt off.

"Listen, Sirius. Do you remember last night?" Remus asked. Sirius' stomach dropped, from the look in Remus' eyes maybe something else had happened. Fuck, he hoped not, he wanted to be able to remember his first time with Remus.

"Bits and pieces, why? Is there something I should know?" Sirius asked cautiously.

"You told me you loved me," Remus said bluntly. Ah. "And you kissed me."

"Did you at least kiss me back?" Sirius teased. He knew the answer, he just wanted to hear Remus say it.

A faint pink colour dusted Remus' cheeks, "Yes."

"And what did you think of it?"

"I quite liked it."

Sirius smiled. He was about to say something particularly flirty when James sat down next to Remus.

"Rough night, Moony? Padfoot? Have you two finally realised you were both pining all this time for no reason?" James teased. He poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice while he awaited their reply.

"Clever, Prongs," Remus smiled and rolled his eyes. Sirius wasn't paying attention, his eyes were drawn to the green and silver tie around his neck.

"What is that?" Sirius asked, squinting his eyes and pointing at the tie.

James blanched as Remus followed to where Sirius was pointing and choked on his own drink. James grasped the tie around his neck and looked down to make sure he wasn't hallucinating the whole incident.

"James, I don't think I saw you or Severus after about quarter to twelve," Remus said nonchalantly. Sirius laughed when James' cheeks burned a deep red. He looked over his shoulder towards the Slytherin table. When Sirius followed his gaze, he found that Severus donned a red and gold tie. A girl on the Slytherin table hit Severus' arm and pointed at the tie, he had the same embarrassed look that James sported.

"How did you even manage to switch ties? You two weren't wearing them at the party last night. Unless, when you left you- oh," Sirius stopped in the middle of his sentence and pursed his lips, holding in an incredulous laugh. James slammed a broad palm down on the table and glared at Sirius, but this only spurred on his laughter.

"Clearly, I- forget it, I'll be back in a minute," James said slowly. He rose from the table and met Severus' gaze. He got the hint and rose too, following James out of the Great Hall.

"And James wants to call us oblivious," Remus chuckled.

Severus tried to push the debacle in the Great Hall early in the day from his mind. He, James, and Lily strolled the Hogwart's castle grounds together. It was sometime after lunch, and the rest of the afternoon was free.

"Is that Remus and Sirius?" Lily asked, squinting into the sun. She raised a hand to shield her eyes but continued looking in the direction of a giant oak. Sirius and Remus sat together in the shade, Sirius enveloped one of Remus' hands in his own.

The trio crossed the grounds and joined them, sprawling out in the shade. Severus sat cross-legged in between Lily and James, Remus leaned up against the tree trunk while Sirius rested his head on his shoulder.

"So all we need to do now is find a man for you, Lily," James said, nudging her with his elbow. He bared his teeth in feigned aggression, "And if he fucks up, he'll have to answer to the four of us. We're like your older brothers or something."

James flopped onto his back on the grass, plucking blades with his fingertips as he stared up at the leaves above. Sirius made a noise of agreement, and Lily smiled confidently.

"I guess now's a better time than ever to say that I'm going to Hogsmeade next weekend with Marlene," Lily said. James shot back up, eyes filled with sheer glee.

"No fucking way," James said. He swung an arm around her shoulders and shook her lightly from side to side. She giggled as he patted her shoulder and withdrew his hand. Remus and Sirius shot her matching smiles. Severus merely raised an eyebrow at her.

"Do you remember telling me about your Patronus?" Severus asked. Lily turned her head to look at him, an eyebrow arched.

"Yeah, a lioness."

"A giant cat, I'm not going to be the one to explain the symbolism," Severus smirked. A single laugh escaped Remus' throat before Lily cut him off with a glare. Lily delivered a sharp backhand to Severus' upper arm and started talking before the other two caught on.

"I never asked you about your Patronus problem again, did it ever change back? Did you find out why it changed in the first place?" Lily asked, leaning back on her palms.

"No, it never changed back. Although I do miss the owl, she's starting to grow on me," Severus said.

"She?" Sirius asked.

Severus took out his wand and closed his eyes. It was easier to conjure up a Patronus when he was alone. The grounds were almost barren already, and it was easy to block out his friends. "Expecto Patronum."

From the tip of his wand burst a fully corporeal doe, glowing an iridescent silvery blue from head to toe. She bowed her head towards Severus and gracefully walked in a circle, making a show of stepping over everyone's legs as she made her way around. When she reached James last, she sat down at his feet, folding her legs up underneath her.

"She reminds me of Bambi. Do you remember watching that, Sev?" Lily asked. Severus was about to say that Bambi was a stag, not a doe when Sirius gasped in realisation.

"No fucking way. Prongs-" he turned to face James. Severus followed his line of sight to James' disbelieving expression.

"What is it?" Severus asked tensely.

James drew his own wand and echoed the same incantation. A shimmery blue stag leaped from the tip of his wand. Severus knew how foolish he looked, gaping at the beautiful animal, but he made no attempt to amend his expression.

"Has yours always been a stag?" Severus asked softly, transfixed by the sight and its potential implications.

"Yeah, you said yours changed to the doe?" James said.

"About a month before we became friends, strangely enough. Well, I thought it was strange and random then, but now-"

"I was right, then. It was a premonition, and you had the gall to laugh at the divine explanation I tried to give you, Severus Snape," Lily said, jabbing a finger into his chest. Severus bat her finger away and put away his wand, his Patronus disappearing from her place at James' feet.

"Pardon me for not respecting your divination abilities, Seer Evans," Severus teased.

"Does this mean you two are soulmates?" Remus asked, looking back and forth between James and Severus. Severus rested his hand on top of James' where it lay flat against the grass. He squeezed softly before relaxing.

"I'm not sure. I don't think soulmates is the right word for it, but it must be something along that path," Severus explained.

At least this narrowed down his search, when he went to the library next he was sure he could find a book about the link between soul magic and love.

"James, I think there's something you should tell Snape. Or show him. It might push him in the right direction," Sirius said with a peculiar glint in his eyes. He stood up, pulling Remus up with him. Lily got the hint and followed them. "Good luck, Prongs."

That was intriguing. He turned to face James, who looked around the area to see if anyone else was near. He stood up and grabbed Severus by the wrist.

"I can't show you here, but there's something you should know. It might help you understand more about the matching Patronus situation when you get back to your research in the library," James said.

He led Severus down to the edge of the black lake. The surface glistened in the afternoon sun, unbroken and calm. No one was this far down, but to be safe, James led Severus from the open ground to several metres into the forest. The trees and shrubbery should conceal whatever James had to show him.

"Stand back," James said. Severus took a step back, keeping his eyes trained on James' stoic face.

James began to change, his skin darkened and his bone structure shifted. In less than a second, James had disappeared and a large stag took his place. With the added height from the antlers, it was taller than Severus.

"James? You're an Animagus?" Severus asked. He grunted and stamped his front right hoof. Severus didn't move, he was at a loss for words. Several inexplicable occurrences and references over the years clicked into place, this made so much sense.

James took a tentative step forward and pushed his nose into the palm of his hand lying by his side. Severus couldn't help himself, he reached up to stroke the stag's head and scratch behind its ear. The hair there was quite soft, Severus only pulled his fingers away when something fell from the sky above.

An owl circled above before it landed on a nearby tree branch. A letter lay on the forest floor, Severus leaned down to pick it up. His name was scrawled on the front in an emerald green ink. Upon noticing the letter, James transformed back.

"Who's it from?" James asked. Severus stuffed the letter in his pocket.

"I'll open it after you explain yourself," Severus retorted. James chuckled weakly, rubbing the back of his neck and pushing his glasses up with one finger.

"Well, you know about Remus', er-, situation. After we found out, Sirius, Peter, and I decided to become Animagi. We weren't much help when we were humans, Remus would have torn us to shreds, but as animals, we could keep him company. It was easier to help him that way," James explained as they started walking back up towards the castle.

"Let me guess, when Sirius and Remus call you Prongs-"

"It's because of the antlers? Clever, Severus, I knew you had a brain in there," James said with a shit-eating grin.

"Shut up," Severus groaned and shoved him away. James stumbled back, laughing, before quickly regaining his spot walking by Severus' side.

"Now that I've held up my end of the deal, open the letter. It could be important," James urged.

Severus pulled the letter out of his pocket and regarded it. He flipped it over, it was sent from Professor Slughorn. He carefully opened it and read the contents.

"Dear Mr. Severus Snape,

As you may recall, we discussed a certain career opportunity two weeks ago. You don't have to reach a final decision quite yet, however I urge you to strongly consider my proposal. The NEWTs are less than a month away, and I would like to prepare things for you if you accept my request. Come by my office tonight to discuss any queries you may have.

Regards,

Professor Horace Slughorn."

Severus read the letter twice, he'd almost forgotten about Slughorn's offer. While he was less keen on the teaching part, he supposed he should accept just to get some further Potions training. Regardless, it was going to be a lot of work. He was going to have to put a lot of time and energy into this course over the next several years.

His worry must have shown on his face, for James said, "What's the matter?" He brushed his arm as he spoke, sending a tingling sensation up Severus' arm.

"I forgot to tell you-, we were so busy that it slipped my mind. Slughorn offered me a tutorship after the NEWTs, he wants to train me to be the next Potions Master for the school," Severus said.

James smiled at him, "Severus, that's amazing," his smile fell, "why aren't you happy?"

"It's- it's going to be a lot of work, and I'm not cut out to be a teacher here. I'm terrible with children," Severus protested.

"You've been tutoring people from the younger year levels for a long time, you seem fine at it to me," James leveled with him. "You just need to stick to teaching something you're passionate about."

Severus mulled over his words, James was right. He should accept Slughorn's offer but decide on whether or not he wanted to teach here after the fact.

"There's something else," Severus started. He stopped walking, James turned to face him. His hair moved softly in the breeze; Severus watched as a lock flitted across his forehead, falling down over his glasses every few seconds.

For all James Potter's flaws that Severus had noted over the years, there was no denying that he was beautiful.

"What is it?" James asked.

"This tutelage is going to be taxing, I don't know how much spare time it will give me, and I don't want to be a burden to you," Severus confessed. It was true, he didn't want James to be stuck with someone who never had a spare moment to see him. "And you have your Auror career you want to focus on, or the Transfiguration mentorship, whichever you decide-"

"You think that will keep me away from you?" James cut him off. Severus clenched his jaw, he didn't think that James would be so quick to oppose him. "Severus Snape, the only thing that could convince me not to be your boyfriend is if you outright turned me down right now."

Severus blinked and sighed, "Was that your way of asking me out?"

James smiled and grasped his hand, lacing their fingers together, "Yes, I realised that I never actually asked you. So, will you be my boyfriend?" James' grin widened as Severus smiled at the cheesy question. He nodded, squeezing James' hand tighter.

"I need verbal confirmation," James said.

"Yes, you prick," Severus shot back.

James brought his other hand up to cup Severus' face, pulling him into a kiss. It was brief but sweet, and Severus relished in the sensation of James' soft lips on his. He would never grow tired of it. When James pulled away, he could still feel the pressure on his lips. Severus brought his own hand up to James' face and rested a thumb against his lower lip.

"Are you sure you want this?" Severus asked under his breath.

"What?"

"It's not too late to back out, I know I'm not easy," Severus said, a little crestfallen.

James kissed him in response. When he pulled away, he met Severus' eyes and smiled, "I'm not looking for easy."