Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe, JK Rowling does. I do not own the lyrics to the song Sirius sings, The Velvet Underground does.

Summary: Sirius manages to make Lily admit she fancies James. Lily thus becomes yet another victim of Sirius's bad influence, to James's great pleasure.

Note 1: The few lyrics that Sirius sings are from the song "Sweet Jane" by the Velvet Underground, from the early 1970s.

Note 2: Thanks to Lexie for betareading this!

"Doing your homework on a Saturday afternoon in Hogsmeade? That's bloody depressing, Evans."

At the sound of Sirius's taunting voice, Lily gripped her quill tighter, refusing to even look up from the roll of parchment on which she was scribbling quite furiously.

"It's not homework, it's a schedule," Lily retorted, gritting her teeth. "I don't forget about my responsibilities, unlike a certain Head Boy."

When she looked up, she saw that Sirius had casually taken a seat in front of her.

"Please sit down, I pray of you," Lily said in a mock-polite tone.

Sirius sighed, looking slightly pained, but Lily couldn't bring herself to care. There she was, on her own in the Three Broomsticks, trying to plan out the prefects' patrolling schedule for the following month, only because all of her friends happened to have dates. This had never happened before and, Lily, being a quite popular girl, felt really grumpy and resentful at being left alone. There might have been another reason, but Lily liked to think that, really, she was not jealous that her friends had boyfriends and she did not.

She had ordered a Butterbeer and wondered absently if she shouldn't just jump off the Astronomy Tower after leaving a note in which she would explain to her friends why exactly she had been forced to meet her untimely death, so that they would have to deal with the guilt for the rest of their lives. This thought had been rather satisfying. That was, until she had seen the Marauders come in. Unable to resist, Lily had kept glaring in their general direction, until Sirius had come to talk to her.

"Just sod off, Black," Lily said wearily. "I'm not in the mood."

Sirius simply stared back at her, being used to her red-head temper. She sulked, putting her head on her hand as she tried to look bored.

"Look, Evans, it's not that I don't like you – I guess you're not worse than any other girl, but sometimes you just annoy the hell out of me."

Lily fought the urge to snarl at him a reply along the lines of pointing out that he annoyed the hell out of her too, and instead mildly sipped her Butterbeer. You're the Head Girl, she said to herself. Just keep cool and don't shout at him like a demented spinster.

"Oh why don't you just do it?" Sirius suddenly blurted out.

Lily startled, distracted from her day-dream of her demented spinster-self chasing Sirius around, threatening to hit him with a rolling pin, and helped by her very own army of wild cats. This would have been quite entertaining and funny had she not the sinking suspicion that it really could happen some day, if Sirius kept on being so shamelessly annoying and if she didn't find a boyfriend soon. Well, maybe she had found him: maybe he was sitting over there, messing up his hair...? Lily shook her head.

"Do what?" Lily asked, frowning.

"Why don't you go and snog James's face off already?" Sirius asked impatiently. "You fancy him."

"I do not fancy James."

Even if this was a blatant lie, Lily thought she sounded pretty convincing. Judging by the look of utter disbelief on Sirius's face, it became apparent she was wrong.

"Right..." Sirius said, as though Lily was six years old. This was something that Lily found particularly irritating, considering Sirius's mental age was precisely somewhere around six. "And I'm the Minister for Magic."

"Don't even make me imagine what the world would be like if you were," Lily muttered, pained at the mere suggestion. "Still, I don't fancy James, therefore I'm not going to snog his face off. I don't want to be his girlfriend."

"Right..." Sirius repeated, rolling his eyes, and then started singing sarcastically: "You know, that women never really faint and that villains always blink their eyes, and that children are the only ones who blush and that life is just to die. But anyone who ever had a heart, oh, they wouldn't turn around and break it, and anyone who's ever played a part, oh, they wouldn't turn around and hate it."

Lily stared at him, bewildered by the fact that Sirius Black knew the words to a Muggle song by heart, and that his singing was actually very good, even though she would never admit it to his face.

"Okay, that was a good one," Lily admitted. "Still, I -"

"Just look at his face!" Sirius cut in theatrically.

Sirius pointed at James, who had been staring at them. James blushed slightly and looked away, sheepishly.

"Why do you make him so miserable?" Sirius asked, even more dramatically.

Lily felt a sudden urge to giggle but forced herself to glare at him.

"You think you're in a bloody Shakespearean play, don't you?"

Sirius just stared back at her, frowning.

"Of course, you wouldn't know who Shakespeare is," Lily muttered to herself, rolling her eyes. "Have you ever even read anything other than Which Broomstick?"

But Sirius did not look the slightest bit offended. He just smirked and his grey eyes twinkled dangerously. Lily found it much easier to look away.

"I'm not sure whether all that reading has made you more intelligent," Sirius said. "You're still bloody stupid, and oblivious enough not to see you're bloody infatuated with bloody James."

"Are you compelled to say 'bloody' all the time?" Lily winced.

"You started it," Sirius shrugged.

But Lily remembered what he had said, and scowled at him for having insulted her.

"I'm not stupid, nor am I oblivious," Lily retorted fiercely. "I can see I'm bloody infatuated with bloody James, I just don't want to bloody admit it!"

The moment she'd finished her sentence, Lily put her hand to her mouth, blushing furiously. She realized that Sirius's constant use of swear words had rubbed off on her, but much more importantly, she had just admitted that she fancied James - to his very best friend! Said best friend wore a triumphant smile. Lily sighed, mortified, and put her head in her hands, wishing she could just hide from Sirius's insufferable smugness.

"Aha! I knew it!"Sirius exclaimed.

"Don't you dare!"

Lily caught him by the arm as he leapt up, intent on telling James. Sirius looked down at her hand, frowning, and tried to get away from her surprisingly firm grip.

"Oi, Evans, you're hurting me!" Sirius protested.

"Good," Lily said cruelly. "Just don't go and tell James, alright?"

Sirius smiled charmingly. "I won't if you do it first."

After what seemed like a long while to Sirius, Lily released him, looking lost in thoughts.

"Okay," Lily said slowly, forgetting she was talking to Sirius Black and not to her best friend. "So how about I walk towards him, say hello and smile? And then what?"

"He'll smile back and invite you to join him for a drink. Remus, Peter and I will say that we'll see Prongs later, and leave. I believe you'll know what to do next."

Sirius winked, but Lily frowned, unnerved.

"Have you lot been rehearsing or something?" Lily asked.

Sirius looked slightly uncomfortable. If only Lily knew just how many times they had rehearsed it!

"Um, no?"

Lily couldn't help but chuckled at the innocent look on his face.

"It's no use lying to me, you know," Lily admonished him sweetly. "I can see right through you, after all those years."

Sirius blinked. "Are you being nice to me?"

"I guess I am."

They smiled at each other, quite surprised to find each other's company suddenly agreeable.

"Was there something in your Butterbeer?" Sirius asked.

Lily shrugged, laughing. "Maybe, but if there was, I don't care."

Sirius smiled again. "I can go with you, if you want. Don't be afraid of James, he's not going to eat you!"

Sirius frowned wonderingly. After all, James's feelings for Lily were quite disproportionate, and, as he didn't understand them at all, he couldn't say one way or another what on earth James was planning to do with her.

"At least, I hope not," Sirius said, sounding a little afraid.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I'm sure he won't, you idiot. That's not what I'm worried about."

"What? You're worried he might not like you?" Sirius jeered.

Lily hit him and blushed slightly. "Shut up."

Lily didn't know what she was worried about exactly, but she felt really nervous. Everything was about to change. She took several deep breaths as she and Sirius walked towards the table where Remus, Peter and James were sitting.

"Can I join you?" Lily asked.

She cursed herself for sounding so shy. Lily Evans, red head, Head Girl, shy? Blame it on James Potter.

"Sure," James replied, looking bewildered, but happy.

James smiled at her and she sat down in front of him, taking the place where Sirius had previously been sitting. As if on cue, Peter and Remus stood up.

"I've just remembered I've forgotten my scarf at Zonko's," Remus said vaguely.

"And I, my, er... my watch," Peter said. "We'll see you later, Prongs."

They all turned to Sirius expectantly. Sirius bit his lip and wildly threw his arms into the air.

"I don't remember what I was supposed to say!" Sirius whined.

James gave him a deathly glare, but was surprised and immensely relieved when Lily burst out laughing.

"I think I overestimated your acting talents, Sirius," Lily shook her head, smiling.

James and Lily watched in silence as the rest of the Marauders left, Remus telling Sirius off for ruining it all. Lily bit her bottom lip nervously.

"Sorry about that," James said apologetically.

"It's OK," Lily replied with another grin. "They're fun. Most of the time."

"Am I included in this statement?" James asked hopefully, his hazel eyes twinkling.

Lily found herself blushing slightly and nodding. James said to himself that it was definitely a good thing. Now the only thing he had to avoid was to make a fool of himself.

"If you find me out of character," Lily said unexpectedly, smiling, "it must be the Butterbeer. Sirius suggested there was something in it. Now you didn't put a Love potion or something in it, did you?"

Lily's almond-shaped eyes peered at him teasingly and James felt his cheeks colour slightly. Had she really said Love potion? He was thankful that Sirius wasn't present; most likely, he would have made fun of him.

"I swear I didn't," James replied. "Why do you ask?"

It was Lily's turn to blush, but she decided to tell him the truth. They were halfway through their seventh year and she had stopped despising James for quite a long while now; it was about time she admitted her feelings for him, at least to herself.

"Because I think I'm warming up to you," Lily revealed coyly.

James nearly choked on his Butterbeer.

During the next hour and a half, Lily just forgot she was talking with Potter, the very boy whom she had despised for years; instead, she was just having fun with James, her very charming fellow Head student. She had never known he could be so funny and kind, and genuinely interested in her tastes and in whatever she had to say. She had even made him laugh! When they entered the Heads' rooms, James gallantly walked her to her bedroom. When they reached the door, Lily stared at James's lips intently for almost one minute, but he just kept on talking.

"Won't you bloody kiss me already?" Lily said impatiently.

Lily blushed as she saw the surprise in James's eyes.

"I'm sorry. It must be Sirius rubbing off me," Lily said sheepishly. "Do you think he's a bad influence?"

James waved her worries aside and smiled.

"He's my best friend, that's enough to prove he's not, isn't it?" James said cheerfully.

Yeah, riiight... But then James kissed Lily, silencing her sarcastic thoughts.

"Whatever you told her, Padfoot, it was brilliant!" James said excitedly.

James had just joined his friends in the common room. He could not believe it had finally happened. He had kissed the girl of his dreams, and nothing in the world could bring him down now.

"I'd told you I'd be able to persuade her," Sirius said arrogantly.

James sat down, a wide smile on his face. He could swear he saw stars everywhere since he had kissed Lily. However, he wasn't the slightest bit worried about it.

"Persuade her?" James repeated. "I daresay I persuade her, with the powerful Potter charm."

It would have been quite difficult to tell which boy was the most arrogant - but they were in such a good mood that none of them cared.

"While you were gone, Peter and I had this idea for a prank..." Remus told Sirius, smiling.

Before meeting Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew had never even thought about pulling a prank.

Before spending too much time with Sirius Black for her own good, Lily Evans had never said more than one swear word a week.

Before meeting Sirius Black, James Potter's ego had been of a perfectly normal size.

Sirius smiled to himself. He was quite content with the bad influence he had on them all.

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