There was a rumour going around the school that James Potter's newest girlfriend had caused a rut between the marauders, but Lily didn't believe it for a second. At least, not until Sirius sat beside her, glowering at James over the breakfast food.

"What's the matter?" Lily asked, elbowing Sirius gently to get his attention. His eyes slid from James to her.
"Penelope is such an awful name, don't you think?" he grumbled, throwing food onto his plate vigorously.

Lily pursed her lips and avoided looking over at the newest couple, where she knew that Remus was trying to talk to James but failing miserably due to Penelope, and Peter was staring at his plate – this she knew because she'd looked over there three times already that morning.

"I've never really given it any thought," Lily said in reply, picking at her bacon. Sirius had placed all his food on a slice of bread, covered it with another, and was eating it like a sandwich. He began muttering to himself but due to the overloading of food it was impossible to understand.

A high pitched giggle caught Lily's attention and she saw Penelope cuddling into James' arm, laughing at what he had said. Sirius gagged.

"I never realised how ugly blonde hair is," he said in disgust. Lily giggled.
"Sit next to me in Transfiguration first," Lily suggested. "We can sit up the back if it makes you feel more rebellious."
Sirius grinned. "I think the front will be just fine today, Lily flower. The further away from them I can get, the better it is for me."

He sent one more dirty look at James before standing and following Lily to class.

Transfiguration was a pleasant experience with Sirius by her side, for he was good at it, he was easy to talk to, and McGonagall liked him – all good points for Lily. She needn't struggle with the spells for Sirius could help her through them. Though, if she were being honest, she was playing a little dumber than usual today to distract Sirius from James, who was sitting up the back corner with Penelope.

"I can feel him watching me," Sirius muttered, quickly taking his hands off Lily's wrists. He was guiding her through the movement of the spell (which she was legitimately having trouble with).
"So what?" she asked.
"James has this thing about people touching you," Sirius admitted quietly, rubbing his face harshly with his hands. Lily's temper flared.
"James has no say over who can and can't touch me," she said fiercely. "Besides, he has a girlfriend. I am of no relevance to him anymore. And I legitimately cannot get this bloody spell right and need help!"

Lily tried to complete the pattern fiercely but she knew she did it wrong. Instead of sending out a severe blast of power like she'd hoped, her wand simply produced bubbles. Sirius snorted at her misfortune before erupting into laughter. Lily smiled at him and rectified her mistake, vanishing the bubbles.

"Hey Lily."

Sirius' grin dropped from his face and he turned to his attention to his book. Lily immediately knew who it was, both from Sirius' actions and the voice, but didn't look up.

"Hi James."
"I noticed you're having a bit of trouble with the spell, did you want some help?"
Lily finally looked up and made eye contact. James' arm was lowering, as if he had just rubbed the back of his neck. She smiled sweetly at him.
"Actually, James, Sirius has been doing a brilliant job of helping me out this lesson," Lily said pleasantly. "I never noticed how skilled he was at Transfiguration before."
"You flatter me, Lily," Sirius said lowly, but he didn't move his eyes from his book.
James looked between Lily and Sirius frantically, but nodded and returned to his seat. Sirius relaxed immediately.

"Is his relationship with her really that bad?" Lily asked tentatively. Sirius groaned and nodded.
"It's nice to know he's still chasing after you though," he mumbled. Lily ignored the comment.
"Why don't you just talk it over with him?"
"Because that means he wins."

Lily remained silent, for she didn't understand the inner workings of their friendship and she didn't pretend to, and she thought Sirius appreciated that fact.

"Time to pack up, Sirius. Walk me to potions?"
"Absolutely, Lily dear. I hear today we're working on a devilishly tricky potion."
"Any potion is devilishly tricky when working with you. I feel sorry for Peter."
"Remus is lucky to have you as a partner," Sirius mused. "Maybe I can bribe him for a swap."
Lily laughed. "No way, Black. You can be as miserable as you like, but I'm not switching partners just for you."
"You wound me!"

Their laughter echoed through the halls as they made their way to the dungeons. It was Sirius' only class without James and Lily could practically feel his mood lifting upward. It made her smile, although the sense of dread that always settled in her stomach on her way to this class was there. Thankfully, when they got to class, the door was open so they didn't have to loiter outside.

Sirius winked at Lily and sauntered over to Peter, leaving his bag at the side of his table carelessly. Lily made her way over to the corner table to Remus, who was flipping through his book quietly. He smiled at her in greeting.

"We're making a Befuddlement Draught today," he said. "Slughorn's not here, either. The instructions are on the board."
"Probably hung over from last night's party," Lily mused, quickly reading the instructions. Simple enough, although she knew that Remus and herself would be the only ones to complete the potion. Whenever Slughorn wasn't here, half the class left.

"I don't understand what's going on between you four," Lily said bluntly as they prepared the ingredients. "Sirius is a wreck."
Remus sighed and put down his knife, glancing over at Sirius where he was having a lovely time sprinkling parsley into Peter's hair. "He seems alright now," Remus offered.
Lily rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean, Remus. Look, if you don't want to talk to me, that's fine, but I think I have a right to know why Sirius is seeking refuge in my company rather than yours."

Remus looked guilty. "Lily, it's not overly simple," he said carefully. "No matter who James dates… he's still my friend. My best friend. James doesn't have to dedicate all of his time to Sirius – I think he's just jealous of Penelope. Peter and I… Well, James is still the same person he was before, isn't he?"

Lily shrugged. Whilst she and James were on ice, she didn't really know all that much about him. Then again, she couldn't shake the feeling that Remus didn't know the whole story.

The rest of the lesson passed smoothly, with students slowly trickling out, Severus included. Lily and Remus didn't speak for the rest of class and she was inexplicably relieved when it was time for lunch.

"Do you want me to wait for you?" Remus asked, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "I can help clean up."
Lily waved him off. "No, I can tell you're hungry. It's no trouble, really. I'll catch up later."

Remus sent her a grateful smile and hurried out the door with Peter. Sirius lingered in the doorway.

"Why are you so nice to us?" he asked. Lily paused.
"You're good people," she said eventually. "Good people deserve kindness."

With a raise of his brow, Sirius disappeared from the doorway and Lily was left alone.