Lilly Evans knew that Justin Lions was angry with her. She could tell by the red splotches on his cheeks, the angry way that his lips were pressed together, and the way his typically smooth and perfect hair was starting to stick up.

It wouldn't have mattered to her, only it did, because Justin was her boyfriend and he had just witnessed her laughing at one of James Potters' jokes, an incident that James had already bookmarked in his mind as his proudest moment in a very long line of very proud moments. Justin shouldn't have been angry with her, but he was, because Lilly had spent twenty minutes that very morning convincing him that she thought James was an immature, pompous, and overdramatic womanizer that she despised.

"It was a really funny joke, Justin."

They stood among the moving portraits in the freezing hallway outside the Gryffindor common room. The wind howled outside and snowflakes silently pounded the glass, caught up in the occasional gust of wind. It was the last day of a frozen November, a day too chilly to be spent arguing outside, away from the warm common room fire in a stone cold hallway.

"How is 'Peter, your arse is almost as big as Sirius' head' a funny joke?"

"Because it's true," Lily said, looking apologetically up in Justin's angry eyes. She was angry with Justin for being angry at her, but also angry at herself for being sorry.

"Since when do you laugh at other people's expense?"

Lily didn't laugh at other people's expense; that was one of the reasons she despised Potter. He brought out the absolute worst in her and in everyone around him.

"I don't know," she said, hanging her head. "I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted."

He turned back into the dorm. Lily sensed a satisfied air in the way he walked, broad shoulders held high, back straight, and she cursed herself for apologizing to him, because there was absolutely nothing to apologize for, and she hated that she felt like there was. She didn't, never had, and never would like Potter. Because that was undeniably true, there was nothing to apologize to Justin for and he could just sit in the common room alone because she wasn't following him in there.

She turned around, head held high, and walked away, into the freezing depths of the castle. She didn't know where she was going, but she was going there alone.

…

Remus Lupin was alone in the hospital wing. His only company was the sound and sight of the winter storm brewing outside, which he saw through the high glass window of the infirmary, and which he heard through the bandages covering his ears and wrapped around his scarred and cut forehead.

That month had been bad, but not horrible, as far as transformations went. The pain was something he could get used to, but the loneliness and isolation wasn't. His friends spent as much time as they could in the hospital wing with him, but when they were gone it was only him and the chilly air, him and his wounds, him and his horrible secret waiting to burst violently from him at the next full moon.

There was an open, shining tin-foil chocolate wrapper on his bedside table. It was a reminder of earlier in the day, before the storm had begun to brew, when Sirius and James had dropped by after an impromptu and completely against the rules trip to Hogsmeade. It was the kind he loved, and Sirius had proudly declared that he had been the one to remember his favorite chocolate flavor, not James.

He smiled a little at the memory, and wished that there was more chocolate in that wrapper, because he was sure it would be better company that the wind, snow, and cold that were his only companions.

…

Sirius Black did whatever and whomever he wanted whenever and wherever he wanted, regardless of rules and gender. But he didn't only do it because he wanted to, no; he also did it for the immeasurable satisfaction of disappointing and angering his parents until they nearly had massive strokes and died.

Unfortunately for him, his parents would never die because of his actions, because they had Regulus Black to be the cowardly, pampered Slytherin son they always wanted. Sirius refused to bend to his hated family's influence, because he didn't need any of them. He could live on his own, and he didn't need a family to care about him.

He sat in the common room next to James, laughing at the joke he'd just made about Peter's arse, because even though it made fun of him as well, any joke about that arse of Peter's was worth laughing at.

"Good one, mate," he said, slapping James a high five.

The only person absent from their group was Remus. Sirius felt an annoyingly prominent ache of guilt, as he always did when he left Remus alone in the hospital wing. The fire was warm and the arm chair he sat in hugged him from all sides, the room was full of chatter and the howls of the wind outside could barely be heard over the crackling of the fire and the voices of his fellow Gryffindors. If Remus was there he would be sitting on the couch, nose buried in a book, or deep in a chess tournament with him or James (Peter was too dull to compete with Remus in chess). He smiled fondly, remembering the last time Remus had beat him in chess with one of his brilliant moves.

Sirius knew that he was clever, but Remus was a true genius, and it showed. He was responsible, smart, dependable, and emotionally open. In essence, he was all the things Sirius was not, and that was why Sirius needed him near, because without those contrasts to his own personality, Sirius was too extreme, too much the rebel. He was sure that without Remus restraining all of them, they would have gotten killed in some horrible accident, expelled, or been arrested before their fourth year. He smiled at that thought, knowing Remus would agree whole heartedly, but didn't admit to himself that he missed his friend sorely.

"What are you doing?" James gave the parchment clutched in Sirius' hands an odd look, because Sirius never did homework.

"Writing to the dear family." A sadistic grin spread across Sirius' handsome face.

"Oh no," Peter said, a miserable look on his face. "If you get another howler, I'm not running it outside for you."

"Don't worry Pete, they're beyond sending howlers."

Peter's face was uncomprehending, but Sirius didn't bother to explain to him, because Peter never really understood anything.

"What're you writing them, dare I ask?"

"Oh nothing." But Sirius was too proud of himself to conceal this, so after a short pause he continued, "I'm just going to tell them that I'm bisexual now and currently sleeping with three guys."

"Wait… what?" Peter asked, looking up with small, confused eyes from where he sat on the floor.

"Oh, it's mostly a lie," Sirius said.

James ignored the tiny confrontation going on between his two friends. He'd known about Sirius' bisexuality for the longest time. It went with Sirius' personality, he'd flirt and fuck anything that moved, be it girl, guy, or something in between.

Lily hadn't come back in the room yet, but her boyfriend with his splotchy, angry face was sitting by the fire and talking to some of his friends. James was tempted to listen in, but he didn't want to, because if they were saying anything even a little derogatory about Lily, he might hit someone like he did that time Jeremy Parkinson said she had man hands. His Lilly did not have man hands, and after he hit Jeremy in her defense, she hadn't even looked at him for a month.

"Don't be discreet or anything, man," Sirius said as he sealed his letter.

"What?"

"If looks could kill, Justin would be deader than I am after my dad reads this."

"I wish," James said. "That guy's such a git."

" 'K, I'm going to send this." Sirius grinned maniacally. "Hopefully I can get a fast owl."

…

A day later, Remus was out of the hospital wing and back in the circle of Marauders around the fire, chatting and kicking Sirius' arse in chess as if he had never been gone. Lily sat with Justin, James noticed, as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn't told her the most hilarious joke she'd ever heard, and as if she wasn't in love with him, which she was. James just knew it, even if she didn't yet. Those green eyes couldn't possibly sparkle and flash the way they did when she looked at him if she didn't feel something strong for him.

At the end of the week, Sirius was planning a massive prank because his parents hadn't written back yet and he hadn't gotten in enough trouble that week. It was Friday night as he sat, sprawled on the couch while the rest of his friends took the arm chair or the floor, with his tie loosened around his neck and his cloak thrown over the back of the couch.

"We have to do something," he said.

"No we don't," Remus countered smoothly, not looking up from his book.

"Yes we do."

"It's after curfew."

"Well, then you should have thought of something to entertain me that took place before curfew."

"Ah, yes, of course," Remus said. "How could I forget to entertain you?"

There was a tone of assent in his voice. He told Sirius without words but with body language and inflection that he wouldn't interfere.

"I don't know," Sirius said. "You really should get on that right away."

James and Sirius began to confer and Remus listened in, making sure that the prank would cause no injury and involve no teachers.

"I say that we break into the Slytherins' dorm," James said, a mischievous gleam in his eye.

"And do what?"

James tilted his head in thought; he hadn't gotten that far yet, but he never got to think of anything because Sirius blurted out an idea.

"We let the frogs and mice from transfiguration into the Slytherin girls' dorm," he said.

"You're a genius."

"I know."

Sirius grinned in a self satisfied way, looking to Remus, who stared up at him from where he sat on the floor with a disapproving expression on his thin face. His pink lips barely twitched in a smile that was fighting its way onto his face.

"Wanna come, Remus?" Sirius asked casually, knowing that Remus would like nothing more.

"Well, I suppose I should make sure no rules are broken…." Remus trailed off in thought, looking up at Sirius' grey eyes, sparkling with playfulness, and knew that he couldn't resist joining them. "What the hell, why not?"

James and Sirius high fived, and the four friends snuck their way out of the dorm with James' invisibility cloak tucked beneath Sirius' robes.

…

The transfiguration room was as dark as the pitch black grounds outside the window; their every footstep could be heard echoing against the stones of the floors, walls, and ceilings as they gathered as many boxes of squeaking mice and hopping frogs as they could each carry. The waning moon bathed them in pale white light as passed under the windows while going about their business.

"Do you think I should take a few crows as well?" Sirius whispered in Remus' ear, making the other boy jump.

"Sure." They stood together in a pool of bright white moonlight coming from a high picture window, Remus' heart turned cold at the sight of it.

"Come on!" James whispered from across the room as he and Peter waited by the door.

"Wait, we're rounding up a few crows," Sirius said.

"Well, just hurry! We'll be outside."

The door snapped shut behind them and there was utter silence.

"Are you alright?" Sirius asked, once again making the moon-bathed Remus jump in shock.

"No," Remus confessed. "I hate seeing the moon, especially so close to my last transformation. It just brings everything back, all the pain, and especially the feeling of not being able to control my ferocity. It's scary, and a little unnerving."

Sirius kept his back to Remus, gathering the sleeping crows and silencing them with a mutter of "silencio" before they could wake up and start calling. His back was rigid. Emotions were not his thing, he was not a fountain of feelings like Remus or James, and bottled up was how he felt things like this should be kept.

"Yeah," he muttered, his heart slowing as he realized what an insensitive wart he was and what an insensitive wart he would always be.

"Come on," Remus said lightly to his friend. "I don't need to be rambling about this."

"No, you don't," Sirius joked, glad that they were on lighter subjects.

Remus turned away from his friend and walked out the door, trying to keep a bounce in his step, and trying to stay happy. He knew that Sirius wanted him to be happy, he was almost certain of it, but Sirius didn't want to talk about how they felt. He wanted to push all their problems to the back of his mind and pretend like they didn't exist. Sirius didn't know that the only way to make his friend happy was to actually act like a friend with feelings, not like the idiotic and immature boys they usually were.

…

James was being funny again, hilarious even, as he recounted the tale of his last prank. Lilly was sitting close enough to Justin that he could feel even if she shook with silent laughter, which she was trying very hard not to do, because she couldn't admit to herself that James was funny.

"And that's why Narcissa had bird poop in her hair yesterday morning!"

The entire group around them laughed, excluding Remus and Justin. Lilly couldn't help it, she started to giggle, and James beamed proudly at her.

"The woman laughs!" He shouted, getting on a knee before her and taking her hand. "I knew I could make my lady laugh."

"Hey man," Justin said, standing up to his full height and staring menacingly down at James. "That's my lady."

"I'm not anyone's lady." Lilly stood up and stomped her foot on the ground angrily. Her cheeks were red, partially from anger, and partially from the attention that was being drawn to them.

"What are you saying?" Justin asked.

"I don't belong to you," she hissed.

"Well then, I guess you don't belong to anyone." He stalked off and out of the portrait hole. Lilly felt all the eyes in the room on her, including James' hopeful hazel orbs, and she didn't need that. She hated a public scene. She yanked her hand out of James' and rushed from the dorm, chasing Justin out into the hallway.

"Justin!" She called.

"What?" He snapped. "Why don't you just go back to Potter?"

"Look," she shouted at him. "I do not like Potter, but I can't help it if he's funny! You can't keep making me feel guilty every time I even talk to him."

"I can't help it." Justin's voice was softer, quieter. "He makes dramatic displays of love for you, and I'm not that kind of guy, I can't do that, and I feel like you like it."

"Justin, you know I hate a scene."

"But I don't really know that you hate him as much as you say."

"Justin, why don't you believe me? Do you not trust me?"

His eyes fell to the ground and he contemplated the dust stuck in the smooth grooves of the stone that had been worn down by thousands of students passing through the halls.

"No," he answered softly, shamefully.

"Well then," Lilly said, her voice defeated. "If you can't trust me, then I can't be with you."

She walked silently away from him, into the common room where the crowd had mercifully broken up. People's eyes discreetly followed her, marveled at the sad red rings around her eyes and the tears that she wouldn't let fall.

"Way to go, Potter," she hissed as she stood in front of James, hating that she had to look up at him to deliver her hateful words. "Another relationship, failed, because of you."

"Doesn't that ever make you think that your relationships will keep failing until you have one with me?" He asked.

She glared at him and stalked away. James looked around the room, at his once adoring audience, but all eyes were averted from him. He looked to his friends, Sirius was reading a letter, Remus a book, and Peter was in the bathroom. None of them could offer the kind of comfort he needed, so he made the lonely pilgrimage to his dorm to contemplate his latest failure at winning Lilly's heart.

The letter in Sirius' hands shouldn't have been contemplated as seriously as he was contemplating it right then. It should have been read, laughed at, and tossed in the trash can or the fire. But, he was reading it, and in a moment of vulnerability he was actually letting the cursed words hurt him. He kept his expression hard as he read the letter, noticing vaguely that the ink seemed blacker than normal, darkly portraying the true hatred behind his parents' words.

You are not our son and you never were.

They shouldn't have hurt him, but they did.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Remus was looking up at him, pain for his friend plain in those wide, expressive amber eyes. Sirius hated that, for a split second, he considered complying.

"No," Sirius said flatly, his heart aching and freezing towards his friend all at the same time. "I don't." he stood up and rushed quickly out of the portrait hole, letter clutched tightly in his hand.

Remus was alone with his book, contemplating the vast chasm between him and Sirius; the chasm filled with loneliness, hidden emotions, and shared emotions. Outside the dorm, where he leaned against the stone wall and refused to let tears fall, Sirius contemplated that he'd let Remus get too close, because he'd almost considered telling the werewolf what he was feeling.

Inside their respective beds, with curtains drawn and dorm rooms locked, James and Lily thought of each other. Lily thought of how much she loathed James, or how much she should loath him. James thought of how much he loved Lily, and how much she should love him.

And, as the sun was setting on that Saturday, shooting the grey sky with brilliant oranges and purples, and bathing the ground with dark yellow and long, cool shadows, they all momentarily admitted to themselves how alone they truly were.

A/N: So, what do you think? I'm thinking it was a little angsty towards the end, but what's a story without angst, I ask you? I'm trying pretty hard to make it at least somewhat humorous, but you know, my overdramatic angsting gets out of hand and seems to negate any humor that I (try to) insert in there.

So this story should be five relatively long chapters, I'm trying this new thing this summer where I write short stories in kinda-ish long chapters so I can actually finish some things and still get my ideas down on paper, because I seriously need to work on finishing my stories.

So, I'm a review whore, seriously. I'm already inspired, but reviews put my inspiration on illegal steroids, so REVIEW! ¿porfavor? : D

PS: Don't kill me for misspelling Lily's name once or twice ( I do that all the time because my friend's middle name is spelled Lilly) and for any grammar mistakes because this has only been checked once.