Chapter Text
James presented as an omega two months to the day after his father died.
His mum went first. Both Euphemia and Fleamont had been sick for years with Dragon Pox, the healers had done everything they could to save them, but after so long, there was nothing else they could do. Euphemia was frail and delirious by the time she passed, she could barely lift her arm in the air. Every breath she took was agony. It was a relief to see her go, though Sirius never shared that statement with James. He told Remus, because he had to tell someone, otherwise the guilt would have eaten him alive, and Remus had nodded and said he felt the same way, lifting the weight of judgment off of Sirius’s shoulders.
Fleamont died two days later. James hadn’t even had time to plan the funeral for his mum. He was still trying to figure out what someone had to do to plan a funeral when he got the owl saying he needed to come to St. Mungo’s to say goodbye.
Sirius watched the light leave James’s eyes the moment it left Fleamont’s. He worried that a part of James had died along with his father, that he would never be whole again.
The funerals—planned together to make things simpler—flew by. Sirius sort of remembered James getting up to speak. He was fairly certain he had said some words as well, but he doesn't remember what they were. The only thing he remembered was sitting with Remus’s arm around his shoulders and feeling nothing at all.
After the funerals, James got into bed at Potter Manor and didn’t get up for a month. Periodically, Sirius would go in there to sleep next to him or talk to him, though James never talked back. Remus kept them alive that month, he and his parents moved into the manor and made sure they were both fed and, generally speaking, bathed. It wasn’t easy, but after a month, James slowly began to talk again. He even started leaving his room.
Then it all went to shit.
It was two days after the full moon. Remus was still resting, his joints aching, but he had a rut on the way. Sirius could smell it in the air, even if he himself was a beta. He was tentatively looking forward to it. Remus hadn’t had a rut since before the Potters died, and Sirius was hoping that Remus realigning his spine would make him feel better.
They were having breakfast in bed, pancakes courtesy of Hope, and Remus was in the middle of stuffing a bite in his mouth so large he might choke, when he froze.
“D’ ‘ou sm’ll ‘at?” Remus mumbled through a mouthful of pancake.
“Huh?” Sirius asked with a laugh.
Remus chewed quickly, swallowing too early and flinching slightly. “Do you smell that?” he asked again.
“It wasn’t me,” Sirius said quickly.
Remus didn’t laugh. “No, I’m serious.”
“No, I’m—”
“Sirius, pay attention,” Remus snapped.
“Mean,” Sirius mumbled, then sniffed the air purposefully. He was sure all he could smell was their sheets, overdue for a wash, and their breakfast, but then it hit him. It was sickly sweet, bordering on rot, and it made Sirius’s face scrunch up in disgust. “Omega?”
“Yeah,” Remus said, a little too breathlessly. Sirius got the absurd urge to slap him. An omega in heat was supposed to be nearly irresistible to an alpha, but Sirius wouldn’t know. As a beta, an omega in heat turned his stomach. He hated the smell, much to his parents' disappointment.
“Why is there an omega’s scent in our house?” Sirius mumbled unhappily, refusing to acknowledge that it was very much James’s house. He didn’t think that fact was important, not when it would seem some random omega had stumbled upon the manor when they were mere hours from their heat. Most omegas knew better than to leave the safety of their homes when their heat was approaching, only someone who hadn’t yet presented and didn’t know the signs would make a mistake like this.
It happened a lot with muggleborns. Muggles didn’t have secondary genders, and it was a bit of a taboo subject while in school, so omega muggleborns, whenever they came along, were usually caught off guard by their first heat. They’d added sexual education courses to Hogwarts specifically for that. Any fresh omega was at risk if they weren’t protected.
“I don’t know,” Remus breathed.
Sirius’s face darkened, and thankfully, Remus finally seemed to notice. He straightened his features into something more controlled, then said, “We need to see who it is.”
“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Sirius snapped. Remus placed a hand on the small of Sirius's back.
“You know that’s not it,” Remus said meaningfully.
Sirius rolled his eyes. They’d had this discussion many times, and Sirius wasn’t in the mood to repeat it, not when Remus could so easily outmaneuver him.
“I’ll check,” Sirius said. “Lock the door after me.”
“No, Sirius, it could be a trap.”
“What are they trying to trap me with? I’m a beta.”
“Yeah, but James,” Remus said helplessly. James, at twenty-three years old, was an anomaly. He was a pureblood wizard, and he hadn’t yet presented.
Most of them presented at nineteen or twenty, at the latest. There were a few early birds who presented while still at Hogwarts, it was always madness when that happened, but most people were a year or two out of school before they presented. However, James remained curiously untouched by the entire system. Sirius hadn’t met a single other person who hadn't yet been presented by twenty-one.
“I’ll check on him first, then,” Sirius said. “Lock the door. I mean it!” he called over his shoulder. He was relieved when he stepped into the hallway and heard the door lock behind him. Remus was adamant that he was happy without an omega, but Sirius still felt the persistent stings of insecurity when he thought about it. It wasn’t the easiest thing for them—Sirius already had a propensity for jealousy and possessiveness, and his beta status made that so much worse.
The omega smell was way more intense in the hallway, but at least it gave Sirius a general direction to head in. He walked down the hallway curiously, confused about why the omega was deeper in the manor rather than closer to the front door. How had they gotten this far?
When he finally discovered the source of the smell, Sirius wondered how he could have been so purposefully obtuse. He knew the moment he turned a corner that it was coming from James’s room, and there was only one reason that would be the case, but Sirius could barely believe it. He took a deep breath, his stomach turning, and then he knocked softly on the door.
“Prongs?” he called. James hadn’t come for the full moon, he wanted to, but Sirius told him to rest for one more month before rejoining them. Even in his animagus form, James was sluggish and too depressed to do much of anything.
“We’ll still be here when you feel better,” Sirius had told James. “Wormy and I can take care of Remus.” He knew James felt bad about missing it, but Sirius just wanted him to feel better, and Remus’s moons had gotten easier after he presented anyway.
“James, are you in there?” Sirius yelled again. A soft groaning noise came from beyond the door. “Okay, I’m coming in.” Sirius waited a few seconds to see if James would object, and when nothing came, he entered the room, shutting and locking the door behind him.
“Sirius,” James whined, his voice pitiful, strung out like he’d been sick for hours. “What’s happening to me?”
Sirius rushed over to him, all thoughts of sickly sweet smells and petulant jealousy leaving his head. James was sprawled on the floor, the sheets and quilt from his bed disheveled and covered in sweat. Sirius could see a damn spot in the shape of James in the center of the mattress. James’s skin was flushed, his face bright red and slick with the same sweat that had drenched his body. He wasn’t wearing anything but a pair of pants, so thin that Sirius could see everything if he was looking. He carefully averted his eyes.
“Sirius,” James gasped. His eyes were wild with panic, his hand reaching out to clamp around Sirius’s calf. Sirius grunted in pain, James’s grip on the edge of too tight. “I’m dying.”
“You’re not dying,” Sirius said. He placed a hand on James’s shoulder and felt as if he could catch on fire from it. James was burning up, his eyes a touch too bright.
“What’s happening?” James whispered.
“You’re in heat,” Sirius said. He pushed some of James’s hair out of his face so he could make sure James heard him. James froze for one second before hissing in pain, curling forward while he held his stomach.
“That’s impossible,” James said. “I’m not anything. It’s too late for this.”
“You’re a late bloomer,” Sirius said, rubbing James’s back comfortingly. He felt useless, plagued to watch his friend suffer once again and not be able to do anything about it.
“No,” James sobbed.
“I’m sorry,” Sirius said regretfully. “I’m so sorry.”
James cried out again. He was curled up in a ball now, and Sirius couldn’t do a damn thing to help him. There was a quiet knock at the door, Sirius squeezed James’s shoulder once, then went to check who it was. Hope Lupin, Remus’s mother, stood on the other side of the thick wood.
“Is everything okay?” Hope asked.
Sirius nodded and slipped out the door, closing it behind him. He paused, then added a locking charm. If James really was an omega, and it appeared that’s what was happening, then he needed to be locked in for his own safety. Sirius didn’t like to do it, he’d spent enough of his childhood locked in rooms to know it didn’t feel good, but he didn’t have any other choice. It’s just until his heat is done, Sirius reminded himself.
“Everything’s all right,” he told Hope with what he thought was a placating smile. Hope’s face fell.
“Is it James?”
“He’s just… going through something.” Hope was a muggle, she wouldn’t be able to smell the sweet omega heat coming from underneath the door.
“It sounded like he was in pain.”
“Yeah,” Sirius said, uncertain of what else to say. Hope’s delicate eyebrows furrowed. “He’s, well, I’m not sure how to say this.”
“Is it his parents again?” Hope asked in a soft voice. She’d been having a lot of conversations with James and Sirius about loss since the funeral. Sirius couldn’t get much out of it. Hope was far too nice, and it always just made him feel like he would throw up from crying if he let himself really listen to her. Sirius knew James appreciated it, though.
“No, it’s not his parents,” Sirius said, cringing as he realized he would have to tell her the truth. He didn’t know how much Hope knew, she was a muggle after all, and Lyall was a beta, but Sirius had no other way of getting out of this conversation. “He’s presenting.”
“Sorry?”
Sirius cringed again. “James is an omega.”
“Oh, dear.” It wasn’t Hope who said it, it was Lyall, coming around the hall at a slow pace, his bad leg dragging a bit. “It’s a bit late, isn't it?”
Sirius nodded. “We all wondered when he'd finally present. I think James thought he just wouldn’t.” He felt bad for telling Lyall and Hope James’s business, not that James had ever been cagey about who he was, but this felt like such a private moment. “I’m going to take care of him. I’m sorry, but I think it would be best if you—”
“Of course, son,” Lyall said. Sirius smiled awkwardly. “You’ll let us know if you need anything?”
Sirius nodded and felt relieved when Lyall led Hope down the hall away from him. It had been a long road to feeling comfortable with Remus’s parents, especially his father, and he was grateful he didn’t have to fight the man to get him out of the house, not when this was happening. Remus claimed that his father never disliked Sirius, but Sirius wasn’t sure he believed him.
He leaned against the door, blowing out a long breath. How could this happen now? James was still so raw from his parents' dying. Soft sounds were coming from James's bedroom, but he didn’t seem to be crying out in pain anymore, so Sirius figured they still had a bit of time before it got really bad.
An omega’s first heat was typically not the one they needed to worry about. Though it could put them in danger if they didn’t know what was happening, it wasn’t nearly as long as the second and third heats would be, especially without an alpha to help them. There were options—heat suppressants, and paid alpha programs—but without the whole marking and claiming thing, heats would only get progressively more taxing.
The first one was usually only a day or two long.
James’s biggest risk right now was alphas who didn’t know how to control themselves. James hadn’t seemed to be too out of his mind yet, but he would be eventually—if what Sirius knew about omegas was correct—after that, he would beg any alpha he came in contact with to shag him. It wasn’t exactly consensual, given that James wouldn’t be in his right mind, but if an alpha got their hands on an omega in heat and chose to mark them, there was little anyone could do to separate the pair, no matter how unhappy the omega was after the fact.
Sirius felt protectiveness swell inside him. James didn’t have his parents to look after him, they couldn’t protect him from this, but Sirius could.
“I’ll be right back!” he shouted through the door. He waited for the muffled, “Okay,” before heading back toward his bedroom. The door was still locked when he arrived, but he knocked once, and Remus opened it immediately. Sirius's fist was still raised when he caught sight of Remus’s face. He was two steps from feral, and Sirius felt his stomach drop.
“Are you safe?” Remus asked. His words shocked Sirius.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Someone broke into the house!” Remus shouted.
“They did?” Sirius asked, perhaps a bit dumbly, in retrospect.
Remus’s face pinched in consternation. “The omega? The smell is just getting stronger.”
“Oh,” Sirius said with a breathless laugh, then pushed Remus forward, shoving him into the room and shutting the door behind him. “No one broke in.”
“My parents—”
“They’re heading home,” Sirius said. “Listen.” He took a deep breath. “It’s James.”
“What’s James?”
“The omega.”
Remus stared at him for a long couple of seconds, confusion slowly morphing into understanding. “Oh no, James,” he whispered.
Sirius nodded intently. “I know. I can barely believe it. I locked him in his room. I don’t think it’s safe to let him out right now.”
“No, of course not.”
“Are you going to be okay?” Sirius asked. Remus’s eyes were bright gold, his typical hazel color missing completely. “Do you want to leave?”
“I’m okay,” Remus said. He placed a hand on Sirius’s cheek, his palm so warm that it made Sirius want to curl up and fall asleep. “I have it under control.”
“I know the smell is intense.”
“I can handle it.”
“If you’re sure,” Sirius mumbled.
“What are we going to do about James?”
“I’m going to grab some supplies from downstairs, food and water mostly. I know omegas get dehydrated during their heat, but I don’t know what else they need. I think I need to call someone. Do we know any omegas?”
“Marlene,” Remus said, then added, “Lily might know some, too. I think she’s been learning about it at St. Mungo's.”
Sirius felt his heart settle slightly, the panic from earlier melting in the face of Remus’s self-control. Sirius loved him all the time, but there was something really special about the Remus who could come into a situation and organize it with a single sentence. He always found a way to lift the weight off of Sirius’s shoulders.
“We should probably call Peter as well; he won’t appreciate being left out.”
“Good idea,” Remus said. “How about I call them and you work on getting everything for James?”
“Okay, that sounds good.” Sirius pressed up onto his toes and placed a soft kiss against Remus’s cheek. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Remus moved his face just enough for their lips to touch. “Of course.”
James was back in his bed by the time Sirius made it up to him, a tray filled with fruit, bread, cheese, and water floating behind him. He’d stripped the bed of all its linens at some point and was curled up on the bare mattress.
“James,” Sirius whispered, as James appeared to be asleep, but James’s head snapped up so fast that it made Sirius jump. When his heart started beating again, he asked, “How are you feeling?”
“I need you to fuck me,” James said grimly.
Sirius laughed incredulously. “Are you even gay?”
“Yes!” James cried.
“Since when?” Sirius yelled back.
“Since I woke up and wanted a man to shag me,” James said loudly.
“That’s the heat talking.”
“It happened six years ago!”
Sirius gasped. “You’ve wanted to shag a man for six years and you’ve never told me?”
James had the good graces to look ashamed. “Yes.”
“You are pathetic, James. A pathetic coward of a man.”
“Are you going to fuck me or not?” James whined.
“I’m a beta. And I’m in love with Moony,” Sirius grumbled. “And before you ask, no, you may not shag him either.”
“I wasn’t going to ask that,” James muttered.
“Oh, so now Moony isn’t good enough for you?” Sirius demanded.
“No, Moony is plenty good, I just know you’d claw my eyes out if I looked at him, and I don’t want to go through that.”
Sirius scoffed. “Whatever,” he said while James buried his face back into the mattress. “I’ve brought you sustenance. You have to stay fed and watered or you’ll die.”
James snorted.
“We’re just going to have to wait this out, but it shouldn’t last long.”
James was quiet for a stretch, then he said, “What’s going to happen to me?” His voice was muffled, and it made him sound like a scared little kid. Sirius sighed and sat down on the bed next to him.
“What do you mean?”
“The house, my parents’ money, all of my inheritance. I could lose it all.”
Sirius felt a tight rope squeeze around his neck. He’d forgotten about that. The day he’d presented as a beta, all thoughts of what omegas' lives were like left his head. All the sexist rhetoric about omegas that had been drilled into his mind for his entire childhood was purposefully removed when he didn’t have to remember the way his father talked about them like they were property rather than human beings.
“We’ll figure it out,” Sirius said quietly. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
James made a noise like a sob, and Sirius had no choice but to lie beside him, wrapping his arms as tightly as he could around his friend.