Gah! I'm just a lowly Youth Pastor! I don't have a lot of money! PLEASE don't sue me – I really promise that I'm not JK Rowling and I don't own these characters and she does and I promise that…oh….wait – that's all I had to say? Then why are you pointing that Shotgun at me…
It was a quiet day inside of Hogwarts' Castle. This was to be expected on a day during the OWL and NEWT examinations. Classes had ended for all those in year 5 and up, which lead to a good bit of time for the 6th Years to spend just relaxing and having fun, or study depending on how ambitious one were.
"Did she really have to try and corner me though? I mean, it's not a mystery who I DO fancy…" James Potter muttered. His best friends – the marauders – were walking with him through the fourth floor hallway towards the Gryffindor tower. Well, not all the marauders. Peter was off who knows where, but the remaining three didn't seem to notice.
"Well, she definitely was easy on the eyes – real easy, I do say." Sirius barked loudly next to him with a chuckle.
It was a well known fact that this wasn't the first time that James Potter had turned down a girl solely on the account that she wasn't Lily Evans. And after each of these occasions, Sirius would needle James about it so much that James got furious and stormed off. Sirius would nearly fall after from laughter each and every time.
"Judging on how you are waxing poetic Padfoot, I'd reckon you wouldn't have stood by Prongs' noble decision to lightly let the girl down and stay true to his one and only." Remus Lupin replied jovially. Thankfully, it was a week after the full moon and he had already recovered from his monthly change.
"Damn right! I would have just led her right to the astronomy tower…" Remus and James rolled their eyes – they knew that the only time Sirius had ever been in the astronomy tower alone with a girl was when he got reamed out by Professor McGonagall while trying to set up a prank.
"And gotten it on. Whatever Padfoot. You haven't yet and I doubt you'll even let yourself drop to that level of perverseness. You're a dog; stop trying to be a snake." James replied casually, though the slightly insulting tone in his voice wasn't missed by his friends. A soft whisper on the wind seemed to hold for a moment as a gentle breezed whipped through the castle.
"Don't you dare associate me with those…those filthy backstabbing assholes!" James was surprised to ignite Sirius' temper so easily about the fact that his family scorned for not being a Slytherin, but James' only reaction was to turn to Sirius and quirk his eyebrow at him.
"At least I haven't ball and chained myself to …"
Sirius never got to finish his statement.
Despite the fact that James was several inches smaller than Sirius and was never as muscular, Sirius found himself pressed against the wall so quickly he hadn't known what happened, his feet knocked out from under him. This change in the conversation wasn't a turn that it usually took.
"I dare you to finish that statement Sirius Black. I dare you." The gaze leveled at the sole Gryffindor member of the Black family was murderous. "You ever imply that Lily ties me down because she's oppressive again, I swear that Bella will look like a saint when I'm done with you." James was shaking with a rage that none of his friends had ever seen before. Remus gently placed his hand on James' shoulder to try and get him to relax; relax both physically off of Sirius and emotionally from such a high.
"James…I think we're just both surprised by your devotion. Lily…Lily hasn't shown you anything that would make us think that she reciprocates…we are just worried you're over doing it." James seemed to shake his head, but he did release his hold on Sirius. James closed his eyes, trying to hold his anger in check.
"Right, Moony…I mean, she's just another pair of legs, right?" Sirius was about to laugh when he saw the look James sent him and choked it back.
"Lily Evans, for your information, gets better grades than any of us, no matter how adept at spellwork we may be." The statement wasn't lost on Sirius, knowing full well that there were not many self-taught animagi out there. "She also sticks up for her enemies to her friends as much as she sticks up for those who she cares for to the people who don't like her. That takes a lot more guts than the three of us have combined. No guts are required when we're pretty sure we won't get caught doing any of the petty crap that we do. She's ten times the mage than any of us will ever be for that reason. She makes me want to be a better person than I am – and just for her! And, as you so nicely pointed out, that's while she despises my guts at the moment!
"Not to mention, that yes, she is so gorgeous looking that she is, as you said earlier, very easy on the eyes." James sighed hard, balling his hand into a fist while shaking his head, before taking another long look at Sirius.
"Don't take what I'm about to say the wrong way, Sirius." James paused once more to collect his thoughts. "You know that I was willing to risk the scorn and denial of my parents care to take you in to our house if they hadn't agreed with you living with us. You know that I love you like a brother right?" Sirius nodded, uncertain where James, his best friend and surrogate brother, was going with this statement.
"Sirius, if you ever forced me to choose between you and her, even as things stand now…I'd chose her a thousand out of thousand times without batting an eyelash." James walked the way the trio had come without either of the other two teens trying to stop him. The statement he had made was so profound that it had left both speechless. Remus knew that he was sure he could be included in a couple of those statements; Sirius was just the one who had made an ass out of himself.
"Blimey…" Sirius shook his head out of his own reverie and scratched the back of his head. The grim animagus pushed off from the wall towards a second corridor, leaving the werewolf to his own thoughts. Remus stood there for a moment, staring at the spot where James had gone from, trying to collect his thoughts.
This is my first fic in a long time - please Review and Respond! It'd be much appreciated!
Also...I'm still looking for a Beta...so if you're interested, let me know! As much as I wish my wife would be my own and only (BETA! GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF THE GUTTERS!), well, a smart man listens and she said that I should find another. c)
