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Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
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"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 155: Alliances and War
"There is a war approaching. You know about that at least, right?" James asked.
"You mean… are you talking about that Dark Lord my family mentioned?" Sirius asked.
James nodded. "Precisely. As we speak, more and more wizard families are allying themselves with that man. Eventually, everyone will have to choose a side. The marriage contracts of your three cousins were meant to cement this alliance even further, by tying your family to the houses of Malfoy, Lestrange, and Rosier, who are deep on the Dark Lord's side. Your grandfather changed this by breaking those contracts."
"Are you saying that for once… the House of Black is on the good side?" Sirius found it hard to believe. He always had a terrible impression of his family and its values. This was one of the main reasons for wanting to get out of there as soon as he became a legal adult.
"Good or bad is a matter of perspective. But right now, the House of Black is opposing the Dark Lord and all the traditional ancient families who support him," James explained.
"Anyone who opposes a Dark Lord sounds like a good guy to me," Sirius said. "So this marriage thing…"
"It is a way to formalize the alliance. This is going to be necessary if they need to prove on which side they are currently standing when other houses like the Longbottoms or Bones come to question them."
"And you are not going to marry my cousin Bella?"
"Is that what got you upset?" James asked. "According to what is written, there will be no actual marriage until both of us are legal adults. My parents insisted on that. There are still around three years before that occurs, and many things can change in the meantime."
"You got it wrong, James. I wasn't upset because I don't want you to marry her… honestly, I think you can do better than that crazy girl. I was just pissed off because it felt like you went behind my back and didn't tell me anything."
"There is nothing wrong with Bella. She is a girl with incredible potential, and…" He wasn't sure why he was defending her right now. "Never mind. I didn't tell you anything because it's not something that should become public knowledge. That would just make her life more difficult at Slytherin, and much more dangerous…"
"Right." Sirius had not forgotten how his other cousin was attacked before the break. "But I have the feeling that this is not something that will remain a secret for long."
James shrugged. He had already anticipated that. "Regardless, I would appreciate it if you didn't say anything. But more importantly, you need to be silent about anything related to the Dark Lord and the war. This is not public knowledge and must remain as such, as it would only cause panic and force Voldemort's hand to act quicker."
"Don't you think that our friends deserve to know? At least Remus and Peter. The four of us have been like brothers since our first year… how can we hide something like this from them?" Sirius said.
"What good will come from them knowing? There is little chance for their families to become involved in this mess for now," James responded.
Both Remus and Peter came from humble wizard families, and until the war had properly started, there would be no danger of them being targeted by Death Eaters.
"But James…" Sirius was not very happy with that.
"I can promise you something." James interrupted him before the boy could start to complain. "If we get to the point when I believe that remaining in ignorance could become a danger to them or their families… I will inform them personally." The only one in their group who could be in danger sooner than later would be Frank Longbottom.
As a member of one of the major families that remained in opposition to Voldemort, they would certainly become one of the main targets of the war.
'Hopefully, I can end this thing before it comes to that.' What he needed to do now was to figure out a way to deal with Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Once he could do that, he would be able to directly confront the Dark Lord with no more barriers in the way.
"Okay… fine." Sirius didn't want to admit it, but he knew that James was much wiser than him or any of their other friends. So if he was so sure of this, he couldn't quite disagree with him. "Ehm…"
"Is there something else bothering you?" James could tell that Sirius had something in mind.
"It's about Lily," Sirius said.
"What about her?"
"You do realize that she likes you, right?" Sirius told him.
"I'm not that blind," James responded.
"And how do you think she's going to react when the news about you and my cousin begins to circulate?"
"You're already assuming that the secret will get out in the near future."
"I know how these things are. All it takes is for someone to catch a whiff and start a rumor," Sirius said. "I'm sure my brother will keep his mouth shut, but I wouldn't put that much trust in Narcissa. She'll say anything to Malfoy. And my mother is still friends with many ladies from other pureblood houses, and they love to gossip."
"Mmm… I haven't really put that much thought into that. But you're right. The secrecy won't last." James had to agree on this one.
"I will talk with Lily, although… I have no idea what I am supposed to tell her yet." All he knew was that he didn't want to hurt her.
'Maybe I should have made things more clear from the beginning.' He was now regretting being so ambiguous just because he didn't want to have any uncomfortable conversations.
"I'll leave it to you then." Sirius felt much better now and had finally recovered his usual smile.
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