Hello! Welcome!

This is going to be a series of oneshots about Jily in some way. We all love Jily and I've been thinking about their story a lot recently. I'm not sure how many little stories I'll put in here, but I'm just going to keep writing them as they inspire me!

Please leave a review so I know what you think! If you have any ideas for a oneshot or anything you REALLY want to see, let me know! I've rated this collection M because there will be, without a doubt, some smuttiness, but I'll still make sure to warn you in the author's note if there's smut ahead (no smut here by the way)

Disclaimer - No JKR, this doesn't belong to me but I love her characters so...

I took another pull of fire whiskey from my glass and glanced at the clock on the wall. Just past 2. Great.

I hadn't been able to sleep lately. Being back in this house, being followed around by my memories was not exactly conducive to sleep, let alone the good night's sleep I so desperately needed. Azkaban hadn't been a treat either and my body was desperate to catch up on 12 years' worth of lost sleep. Looks like it will have to wait a little bit longer.

I sighed and took another long pull from my glass before placing it down and sloshing some more fire whiskey into my now empty cup. I was raising the glass to my lips when the kitchen door opened softly. I raised my eyes and found Harry staring back at me.

Harry was the exact copy of his father… except for his eyes, of course, but he already knew that. Everyone told Harry that he had his mother's eyes. But he looked so much like James that it was terrifying. The glasses, the hair, the face, everything. They both loved, and excelled at, Quidditch. Both had a certain disregard for the rules and both had an intensely and deeply rooted sense of what was right and fair. Both were willing to stand up and die for what they believed in. James already had… my only hope now was that Harry wouldn't have to.

"Alright, Sirius," Harry raised his hand in greeting before walking over to the sink to grab a glass of water. He sat down across from me, his eyes studying the exhausted look on my face and the fire whisky bottle between us. "Why are you up, Harry?" I asked, setting my glass down and sliding it a few feet away from me. "Couldn't sleep," he took a long sip of his water before setting his glass down too. "I've been thinking about my parents," he said, quickly glancing at me before diverting his eyes again. "I've been dreaming about my mum and dad again…"

Harry never wanted to talk about these dreams, never wanted to admit that the trauma of his infancy was still haunting him. I know why he wanted to put on a brave face, why he wanted to pretend like he was stronger than all the things that had happened to him. It was the same reason that I always had a smile on my face during my years at Hogwarts, why I pretended like I couldn't care less about my homicidal, blood-status crazy family. We needed to act like we could rise above the horrible things that had happened to us so that we could convince ourselves we would overcome it all. I don't know that I ever overcame anything… I'm still plagued by everything… but Harry… Harry is different. If anyone will be able to conquer his demons, it's Harry.

"What are you dreaming about?" I ventured, "The same dream you've been having for a while now?" Harry shifted nervously in his seat, "Sometimes. Other times I just dream about the pictures from the photo album. My brain is trying to imagine what they were like before… that night." Harry's cheeks turned red. "I suppose you don't know much about them, eh?" I said, pulling my glass back towards me and taking a sip. Harry shook his head. "I could tell you about them," I said, putting what I hoped was a comforting look on my face.

Harry was quiet for a moment before he looked up at me, "Okay."

"What do you want to know?" I asked, nervous for his response. I hadn't talked to anyone about James and Lily, no one except Remus and even then our conversation was brief. Talking about them was just too painful, too real. Every time I thought about them I thought about Godric's Hollow all over again, how I killed my best friends because of my stupid piece of advice.

"What was dad like at Hogwarts? And mum? Were they friends?"

I laughed and Harry seemed startled by my response. "Oh, no." I chuckled, "Your mum hated your father for the first five years we were at Hogwarts together. He was confident to the point of arrogance, loved breaking the rules and pushing boundaries… your mother was fiery, certainly, but much more reserved in terms of her own self-confidence. She would break rules but she needed a reason to do so. Your mother reminds me, in a lot of ways, of Hermoine." I smiled at Harry before I continued, "But she also had quite the temper and could be a clever rule-breaker when she wanted to be. Your mother loved to laugh, learn, argue… and she excelled at everything she put her mind to. James… didn't have to try and that drove Lily crazy." Harry smiled and I laughed a bit.

"So they fought a lot?" Harry asked. "Constantly." I groaned, "I don't remember a day going by first through fifth year where those two weren't bickering about something. But even then, even when she was convinced that she hated him, your father was absolutely smitten with her. He talked about her all the time… every. Single. Bloody. Day. Remus and I were ready to kill him after the first few weeks in first year but we had no idea how long his obsession would go on." I laughed, remembering all the conversations we'd had about the unconquerable Lily Evans.

"Sirius, you don't understand," 11-year-old James said, flopping dramatically back onto his four poster, "I'm going to marry that Lily Evans. I swear it." I groaned, "Jamesie, we're too young to be thinking about such things." I sat down on his bed, "Think of all the ladies we need to have fun with before we even think abut something as ridiculous as marriage!"

James just shook his head, "Nope. I've got Lily. I don't need anyone else."

"I HATE YOU, JAMES POTTER." 14-year-old Lily stormed into the Gryffindor common room, her red hair flying wildly behind her and she stomped over to James and poked him in the chest with her wand. "TAKE. THE. CHARM. OFF. NOW." Lily held out her bag that was flashing, "Potter is hotter" in red and yellow lights. James smiled his crooked smile at her before whispering, "Now, Evans, I always knew you found me attractive, but I never imagined you'd go advertising it to the whole school like that."

I've never seen someone get so red. That is, until Lily hexed James into the wall. Flushed with anger and, astonishingly, admiration, James laughed as Lily walked up the stairs, "There goes my future wife, ladies and gentlemen of Gryffindor."

"So dad always loved mum?" Harry said and I nodded. "When did mum start to come around?" I smiled again, "Around the end of fifth year Lily started to come around." Harry nodded, "I saw what happened by the lake that year… in Snape's memory." I frowned a bit and nodded, "Yeah, not our finest moment… and James was crushed by what Snape said to Lily. He exercised remarkable self control that day because we were all sure James was going to kill him." I laughed a mirthless laugh and looked down at my hands. "Lily was so upset… James flew after her and, based on the story he told us later, I think that was the day she started to come around."

Lily started walking up to the castle as quickly as she could carry her and James, with an absolutely murderous look in his eyes, caught my glance before running off after her. I put my wand back in my robes and Remus and I followed, walking slowly up to the castle before heading to the dorm to wait for James to come back.

A few hours later, James walked into the room, his hair standing on end (he had clearly been ruffling it) and his eyes red-rimmed and exhausted. He fell back onto his four poster and sighed. "Alright, James?" I greeted nervously, smiling weakly at him when he picked his head off the pillow and looked at me.

"Lily and I had quite the talk," he said, laying his head back down and turning over on his side to face Remus and I. "Yeah?" Remus asked, clearly suppressing a small smile at this news. "Yeah…" James' eyes went out of focus for a minute or so, clearly replaying a moment from the hours before. "She's really upset by everything that happened this afternoon, but I think we're going to be okay." James let a small smile grace his lips and I felt my face break into a grin. "That's great, mate… how's she taking the Snivellus business, though? That must have really hurt."

James sighed, "She cried for a long time. As much as I hate him, he was one of her closest friends and I know how betrayed she feels right now. I can't imagine if one of you guys had done something like that to me," James said, running his hand through his hair again. "I'd be absolutely crushed."

"Well, we'd never do anything like that to you, mate," I said, "We're brothers." Remus and James both smiled.

"So what happened?" Remus asked, grabbing his bag from the floor and beginning to sift through the contents.

"She actually let me comfort her, which is a first," James chuckled, "but that was probably because she was so devastated in the moment and had no one else to turn to." Remus rolled his eyes, "Prongs, I know that Lily drives you crazy with her attitude towards you, but I think she's starting to come around."

"Oh, she definitely is," James smiled, "She let me hold her and I even snuck in a kiss on her forehead." I laughed, "Right on, Prongsie!" Remus rolled his eyes again. "Oh come off it, Moony," I said, laughing, "Prongs has been waiting for this his entire life."

"It was just nice to talk, you know?" James said, putting his arms behind his head and staring up at the ceiling, "Every time we're in the same room we're always fighting, but today… today we actually talked. Hell, I even cried a little."

I felt a smile creep onto my face, but James caught it – "Shut up, Padfoot."

I laughed, "Nothing wrong with a few tears, Prongs," I said, grinning madly at him. "But what, may I ask, were you crying about?"

James sighed, "Lily said that no one would ever love or care for her. Pads… it absolutely broke my heart."

"It would take her the whole summer, though, to really start to change the way she thought about James."

"What happened when you came back for sixth year?" Harry asked, taking another sip of his water. I smiled, "Something amazing happened."

We got off the train, quietly celebrating our latest prank against the Slytherins, when Lily came running off the train and across the platform. She caught up with us and fell into stride alongside James. "So am I guessing correctly when I say that you four are responsible for all the snakes slithering around the train right now?" James' eyes twinkled as he looked down at her, "Perhaps," he said, "are you cross with us?"

Lily laughed, "Hell no, those toerags totally deserve that." James was stunned and I think I actually stopped walking I was so shocked. "What?" Lily asked, turning around and smiling at us. "Their mascot is a snake, after all."

"I'd never seen your mother's eyes shine so mischievously," I said, laughing. Harry grinned widely. "Your mother was the mastermind behind a few of our more clever pranks that year. She was the one that inspired us to charm the Slytherin benches so they fell through when they tried to sit down but her masterpiece was the enchanted floor." Harry raised his eyebrows and I smiled. "She charmed the floor so that whenever you walked on it the floor would look like it was falling apart. You really looked like you were going to fall down to the floor below!" I started laughing just remembering the screaming from the corridors that morning.

"Everyone knew it was us, of course, but your mother managed to keep her name out of it and James was adamant that it stayed that way. He didn't want Lily getting in trouble. The teachers all thought it was clever, though, she we managed to escape detention ourselves." Harry laughed, "I need to figure out how to escape detention…"

I smiled wryly at him, "Well, you're not on our level quite yet, Harry." He laughed and took another sip of his water before falling back into his thoughts.

"So when did mum and dad actually get together?" Harry asked suddenly. "Ah," I laughed, "that was the beginning of seventh year."

"You got what?" I asked, staring at James in shock. "Head Boy!" James repeated, his tone even more panicked than it was moments ago. "How did YOU get Head Boy?!" I asked, laughing. "Gee, thanks, Pads." James groaned, "I'm already worried enough about this. Dumbledore must be off his rocker. I wasn't even a prefect!" I smiled "Come on, James. Dumbledore knows you have a lot of influence with the other students. I'm sure that's why he chose you!"

"He should have chosen Moony!" James sighed dramatically and flopped back onto his bed. I sat down beside him and grabbed the letter out of his grip and read it over. "You know he couldn't choose Moony, Prongs." I sighed. James groaned and threw his arm over his eyes. "I know, but it makes so much more sense than choosing me!"

"Why are you all worked up about this James? You already know who your Head Girl is going to be." I smiled wryly at him. "Who?" James asked, taking his arm off his eyes. "Our Lily, of course!" I said laughing. James sat quietly for a moment before sitting up slowly. "That's right…" he said, a smile slowly forming on his features. "Dumbledore HAD to make her Head Girl. Maybe this won't be so bad after all!" James lept up and ran downstairs to tell his parents the news and I walked slowly behind him. Somehow, I didn't think it would be bad at all.

Lily was, admittedly, shocked when she found out James was Head Boy, but she understood why it couldn't be Remus. She and James actually worked together really well and everyone, even me, could see that there was something deeper developing between them.

A month into the new year James suddenly materialized in our dorm. "I'm going to kiss her." He said, raking his hands through his hair, "It's driving me crazy living in the Heads Quarters with her." I smiled knowingly at Remus and Peter as we watching him pacing back and forth, hands pulling his hair into all sorts of bizarre directions.

"The whole place smells like her! I can't wake up in the morning without wondering when I'm going to see her! We sit up late at night and study together. SHE WALKS AROUND IN HER DRESSING GOWN FOR MERLIN'S SAKE! I'm going out of my bloody mind!"

Moony laughed, "No, Prongs, you're just falling for her." James stopped dead in his tracks. "You think?"

Moony smiled and nodded. "Now what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to kiss her." And he ran out of the room faster than I'd even seen him run in his life.

"What happened?" Harry asked. "He kissed her," I smiled, "he came running up to our room an hour later with her over his shoulder screaming that she'd finally agreed to go out with him." Harry laughed, "What?!"

"Well, Lily had been turning him down for six years. So when she finally agreed, James got a little carried away with the celebration." Harry laughed. "I wish I'd known them," he said suddenly, "I feel like they were such wonderful people with so much love to give."

"They were," I said, smiling sadly. "Your parents were the most wonderful people I'd ever, and will ever, know. Your dad was clever, stubborn, wild, hilarious, and always stood up for what was right. Your mother was, if possible, even cleverer than James, strong-willed, mischievous… and she wouldn't back down from a fight. Ever. She was the bravest witch I've ever met." I smiled up at Harry sadly, "They also had a love that was stronger than I've ever seen… before or since. They would have done anything to protect the other. Their lives didn't make sense if the other wasn't in it anymore."

Harry was looking down at the glass of water in his hands. I didn't know what he was thinking but I couldn't leave him for the night feeling like this about his parents. "But they loved you, Harry. So, so fiercely. You made them the happiest I'd ever seen them and that is certainly saying something." Harry looked up and smiled a small smile. "Yeah?"

"Yes." I said firmly. "Once they got together, your parents were always laughing… but once you were born, their happiness became something almost spiritual. They gave us all something to believe in. Something to fight for."

"Well that's what I'm fighting for," Harry said suddenly, stretching his arms over his head and standing up. I followed suit and clapped my arm on his shoulder as we walked out of the kitchen. 'That's what we're all fighting for, Harry. I'll never stop fighting for Lily and James."

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review and I'll see you again soon!

Again, anything you want to see? Any story you want me to tell? Let me know!