"Why do you hate me?"
Sirius turned around in the corridor down which he had been walking to get to the kitchens and the first thing he saw was red. Then he saw a pale face and bright green eyes, which confirmed the voice belonged to Lily Evans.
"You'd better run along to the common room, Evans, it's nearly curfew."
"I'm Head Girl, Black; I have an excuse if I'm caught in the kitchens after curfew. You, however, do not."
"Too bad I don't care." said Sirius, turning his back on Lily and continuing to walk towards his destination – the portrait of a fruit bowl that held a rather ticklish pear.
Lily's footsteps continued to follow Sirius, a few steps behind him.
"Why are you following me?" he asked without turning to face the girl he was addressing.
"It's rather annoying having a stalker, isn't it?" Lily was referring to Sirius' best friend and fellow Marauder, James Potter, who was strangely infatuated with her. James' crush was extremely annoying to the two seventh years on their way to the kitchens, though for different reasons.
Sirius didn't respond, instead choosing to silently descend the staircase that would lead him to the corridor that held the entrance to the kitchens.
When he got to the portrait, he held out a finger to tickle the pear, but Lily got there first, stepping in front of him and holding out her own finger. The pear laughed and squirmed before turning into a green doorknob which Lily swung open with a somewhat ridiculous flourish before climbing through into the kitchens, leaving a disgruntled Sirius to follow her in.
The kitchen was huge; the size of the Great Hall directly above it, with what seemed like millions of pots and pans scattered around the stone walls and a giant fireplace directly across from the entrance. The four long tables sat empty in the middle of the kitchen, almost exactly the same as those in the Great Hall above it, just without the hormone-fuelled graffiti.
Lily and Sirius had barely stepped in when they were surrounded by three feet tall house-elves, all with heads too big for their bodies, eyes too big for their heads and large ears.
"Mister Black and Miss Evans!" squeaked one house-elf, looking up at the pair. "What will it be?"
Once they had 'placed their orders' and received their food, Sirius and Lily both sat down on the end of the table they knew was directly beneath the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, Sirius biting into a chicken sandwich and Lily picking at a cupcake.
"Not meaning to sound rude – or maybe I am – but why are you still here?" asked Sirius, looking away from his sandwich and towards the redhead.
"I'm still here because you haven't answered my question." Lily said as if it was obvious.
Sirius sighed. Did she have to be so difficult? "What question?"
"Why do you hate me?"
Sirius contemplated his answer for a few minutes, chewing slowly on his sandwich. Why exactly did he - hate was something he felt towards his Death Eater cousin Bellatrix, not the fairly innocent girl his best friend was so annoyingly besotted with - dislike Lily Evans?
"I don't hate you, as such..."
"Then why don't you like me?" Lily was getting rather impatient with the dark haired, grey eyed boy in front of her.
"You're a bitch." said Sirius simply, deciding to say the first thing that came to mind.
"I'm... a bitch?" repeated Lily, with a confused look settling on her face as she looked down at her half eaten cupcake.
"Yep." he said after taking the last bite of his sandwich. He stood up to leave, but Lily grabbed his wrist and he turned to face her.
"Sirius Black, you'd better explain yourself right now." threatened Lily, a look of anger replacing the one of confusion.
Sirius sat back down, sighing. He wondered how on earth he was supposed to explain all of his feelings towards the prefect in a coherent way without sounding childish. He couldn't exactly say 'I don't like you because you're unwillingly stealing my best friend away from me' he wasn't eleven anymore, he was seventeen, an adult. Even if she was unwillingly stealing his best friend, he wasn't about to say it. Yet.
"Well..?" prompted Lily.
Sirius took a deep breath, knowing that he would be unable to stop the stream of words that would inevitably spill out of his mouth.
"You're a bitch. You think everyone's below you because you get good grades, teachers love you and you were a prefect and now you're bloody Head Girl - don't interrupt!" Sirius saw Lily's mouth open to deny his accusations. "You walk around like you're the fucking queen of Hogwarts, taking points off anyone who dares to even slightly bend the rules, just because you can."
"I don't -"
"You do! And then you sneak off to the kitchens right before curfew, bragging that you won't get in trouble because you're miss high-and-mighty-Head-Girl!" Sirius paused, and he saw that Lily was wiping tears from her eyes yet he realised he didn't care. If James saw us now, he'd punch me, thought Sirius. "You're such a hypocrite."
"But- but that explains why everyone as a whole might dislike me, but it doesn't explain why you personally seem to dislike me more than anyone else."
"You really can't figure it out?" asked a smirking Sirius, surprised at how stupid Lily seemed. Wasn't she supposed to be smart?
"Obviously it's something to do with James, I can't figure out exactly what, so enlighten me, will you?"
"You think you're too good for him, but really, he's too good for you."
Sirius' words seemed to hit a nerve, though she answered as though she'd said the words before. "He's arrogant, self-centred, vain, lazy and a bully."
"And you're better than him?" asked Sirius in an accusing tone.
"I didn't say that." said Lily softly, looking anywhere but at the boy who was glaring at her. She focused her eyes on the large fireplace and was studying the bricks when Sirius spoke again.
"He's changed and even Dumbledore knows it, making him Head Boy and all." Sirius laughed quietly to himself and shook his head in disbelief that his messy haired, rule breaking friend became Head Boy.
"Leopards never change their spots." said Lily, and although her companion had not grown up hearing the phrase, he got the gist of it.
"I just don't understand." confessed Sirius, raising his hand to his hair.
Lily looked back at Sirius and was mildly shocked to see him looking more confused than angry. She raised her eyebrows at him as an invitation to continue.
"I don't understand you, Evans." said Sirius.
"I'm really not that complicated." said Lily with an attempt at a smile, glad that Sirius had momentarily stopped slating her.
"You were best friends with a budding Death Eater who hates muggle-borns and is obsessed with the dark arts – who, by the way, obviously did change his spots if he was once nice to you – yet you won't even give James a chance even though he's completely against the dark arts and the worst thing he's ever done is pull a few pranks or hex a few people without any lasting damage whatsoever."
Lily seemed to think about that for a moment, before shaking her head and whispering, "It's different."
"It's exactly the same!" argued Sirius. When Lily didn't respond immediately, he asked, "How is it different?" Again, Lily didn't reply so a satisfied smirk crept on to Sirius' face.
"That still doesn't change the way I think about it." said Lily, but she looked somewhat unsure as she considered the fact that maybe she was being unreasonable and extremely hypocritical in her treatment of James Potter.
"That's weird because I think I just changed your whole outlook on the James Potter situation."
Lily let out a soft, reluctant laugh. "It'd take a lot more than that to change my outlook on the James Potter situation, believe me."
Sirius groaned. He knew girls were difficult, but this particular girl was virtually impossible. "Another thing I can't even begin to fathom is why he even likes you so much."
"What makes you so sure he even likes me?"
Now that was one question Sirius was not prepared for. "What…?"
"Well, you don't like me and according to you, no-one else has reason to like me, so why would he? It's easy to see why he would want to humiliate me, the prissy girl who pretends she's the queen of the school."
Sirius resisted the urge to correct Lily; he'd said prissy bitch, not prissy girl. "He thinks the sun shines out of your arse."
Lily laughed a little and glanced towards the portrait hole. "But why?"
"I've never asked; I don't want to know." said Sirius, moving on Lily's half eaten cupcakes despite her protests.
"But he definitely likes me?" Lily asked as she leaned over the table.
"For Merlin's sake, Evans, yes! Why do you even care?"
"I don't." Lily defended, though her self-satisfied smirk implied differently. "I'm just curious as to what people think of me, being Head Girl and all."
Rolling his eyes, Sirius shoved the rest of the cupcake in his mouth. "Whatever." he said with his mouth full.
Sirius swung his legs over the bench and pushed himself up. Leisurely he made his way across the kitchen, nodding gratefully at a few of the beaming house elves. His fellow human didn't say a word until Sirius was halfway out of the kitchen.
"I won't dock any points, Black, just this once."
To the surprise of both Lily and himself, Sirius barked out a laugh before the portrait swung shut behind him.
Smiling slightly, Lily rose from the table and made her way over to the portrait hole, thanking the elves on the way to give Sirius enough time to get back to the common room.
She'd barely made it out of the portrait hole when she was forced against the wall.
Without missing a beat, she held her hand out in front of her, clenched her fist and pulled.
"James Potter, you arrogant eavesdropping toerag." Lily accused as a certain black-haired wizard appeared in front of her.
James smirked and placed his hands either side of Lily's head. "Oh, Lily, you prissy bitch, don't pretend you didn't open the door for me."
Raising her eyebrows, Lily said, "It's a portrait hole, actually."
Then she tilted her head up just in time to feel the vibration of his chuckle against her lips.
The invisibility cloak dropped from Lily's hands and it was pinned between them as Lily locked her hands around James neck. James bent his elbows to allow him to deepen the kiss, but Lily broke away just as he did so.
"I guess we figured out why Sirius hates me." she said.
Still reeling from the kiss, James replied, "Because you think you're so much better than me."
"Apparently you're not as bad as I thought." Lily mused, smiling up at James.
James dropped his hands from the wall, captured Lily's hand with one and used the other to grab his invisibility cloak from the floor.
"No, I'm so much better than you." James teased as they began walking along the darkened corridor.
"Why do you like me then?" Lily asked, half-jokingly, half-curious.
She expected a thoughtful silence at least, and was somewhat surprised when James retorted immediately.
"Maybe I like prissy bitches who think they own the school."
Lily laughed. The sound filled the otherwise silent corridor. "Maybe I like self-centred bastards who may have changed their spots."
"Maybe we make a great couple." James said, bracing himself for the rebuff that was bound to come, based on past experiences. Lily didn't fare well with any words associated with commitment.
Lily was quiet for a moment as they walked up a staircase. "Maybe we do."
"Maybe…"
When James didn't end his sentence coherently, Lily nudged him. "Maybe what?"
"Maybe we should make it official." James suggested.
"You mean us snogging in every free moment for the past month isn't official?"
"No, that's not official, that's just you not being able to get enough of me." James teased.
"Ha! Other way round is more like it." Lily scoffed, though the slight blush on her cheeks hinted otherwise.
"Let's go public then, shall we?"
Glancing sideways at Lily, James thought the next words out of her mouth were definitely going to be an affirmative. Her mouth opened slightly, then she stopped, tugging on James' hand. He followed her gaze to see a silver trophy soar across an intersecting corridor beyond.
"Peeves," Lily whispered. "We have to run."
If Peeves found them, he'd waste no time in making their presence known to any teachers in close range, which would not look good on Lily's impeccable record. She'd been so careful not to get caught on the way down to the kitchens – James' map had been a big help – and she'd lied when she told Sirius being Head Girl would get her out of trouble.
"We can't run yet!" James insisted.
"Why not?" Lily frowned, trying not to panic as the sounds of Peeves' mischief travelled closer.
"You didn't answer my question!"
Lily sighed exasperatedly and attempted to drag James back down the corridor, but he wouldn't budge.
"Fine! We can tell the whole bloody world, now let's go."
James grinned and led Lily a few steps down the corridor to a tapestry which turned out to be hiding a small alcove.
"Ladies first," James said, gesturing for Lily to enter. "We can hide out in here until he's gone."
James ducked in the alcove after Lily. They ended up squeezed together in the tiny space.
"Is there no bigger hiding spaces?" Lily grumbled.
"There's a huge passageway a few feet down, but I think I prefer it in here, don't you?"
Ignoring Lily's accusations, James brought his lips to her temple.
For a second, Lily looked as if she was about to protest, but then she shrugged. "On the other hand, it is quite cosy in here."
James watched his friends' retreating backs as they sloped away from him. He'd told them to go to breakfast without him that morning, offering no reason why despite Sirius' suspicious questioning. They left him stood outside the common room.
He waited for Lily to climb out the portrait hole.
"Evans!" He called, feigning annoyance when he saw her emerge.
Along with most of her friends, Lily turned. "Yes Potter?" she said.
James launched into a well-practised speech about how Lily had messed up the prefect schedules. A few minutes into his rant, Lily's friends – used to the Head students arguing – murmured that they'd see her in the Great Hall before also turning their back on the couple.
As soon as they were out of sight, James held his hand out to Lily. Instinctively, she pulled her hand away.
"You promised!" James reminded her.
Only slightly grudgingly, Lily took his hand and they walked walked through the castle, both relieved at not having to pretend to hate each other any more.
As they neared the Great Hall, James didn't know what to expect. Was this as big of a deal to everybody as it was to him and Lily? Earlier, he would've assumed not, but judging by some of the wide eyed stares they'd gotten on the way down from younger years, it was going to be quite a shocking development in the eyes of the rest of the students.
It was only when Lily tugged on his arm in the doorway that James realised he'd slowed down. Were they ready to announce their relationship to everyone after six straight years of squabbling? He wasn't even sure if this was what Lily wanted.
Confused, James was about to back away when Lily did something he never would've expected when she quickly kissed him in full view of everyone.
It gave him his confidence back, at least.
As they made their way over to the Gryffindor table and tried not to notice the stares, James saw two of Lily's friends jump up and run over to his fellow Marauders.
Having seemingly missed Lily's gesture, his friends' heads snapped towards him as they listened to Hestia and Mary's giggles.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Peter and Mary blurted out as James and Lily sat opposite.
Lily took a deep breath before answering. "We wanted to make sure we could manage not to kill each other before telling anyone."
"How long has this been going on for?" Sirius asked with a self-satisfied smirk.
James glanced sharply at his best friend which wiped the smirk off his face. "About a month."
Sirius winced. "So, er… last night?" he asked.
"What happened last night?" Remus asked suspiciously.
"Sirius called my girlfriend a prissy bitch."
Hestia gasped whilst everyone else in earshot attempted to stifle a laugh. Out of the corner of his eye, James saw the corners of Lily's mouth lift at the word 'girlfriend'.
Sirius cleared his throat. "Sorry about that mate."
"You're not going to apologise to me? You know; the one you actually said it to?"
"No."
"He's right though." said James.
"He's not!" protested Lily. She looked at the others for conformation but they all shook their heads.
"Whatever you say, Evans." James placated as he swung his legs over the table. "I'm sure you all want to hear the gory details, but my girlfriend and I must dash to squeeze in a few snogs before Transfiguration."
Lily nearly choked on her pumpkin juice. Despite giving James a death glare, she sighed in defeat, not really wanting to be interrogated by her friends, and they both rose from their seats. "We won't be snogging, by the way. James hasn't done his essay on Human Transfiguration."
The multiple eavesdroppers were satisfied with this and most turned away, having claimed their daily gossip, but James distinctly heard Hestia claim they were 'disgusting' as they walked away.
Lily turned and winked at her friend.
Beside her, James murmured "Wait…" and turned back and jogged back to his friends.
He came to a halt behind Sirius, who turned. Promptly, James lifted his arm and punched his best friend in the face.
For a moment, Sirius looked dumbfounded. "I think I deserved that."
"You definitely did." agreed James.
"I'm happy for you though, mate." said Sirius, holding a cool goblet to his face.
"I know."
A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Review/favourite/subscribe!