Hi, well I'm knew to the Harry Potter forum but since recently re-reading the Harry Potter books I had a sudden urge to write a story. I've always loved Sirius and am always near tears when I reach the last few chapter of The Order of the Pheonix. lol So I wanted to write what I think could have happened to him in the past. A romance I think he could have had. And this is what this is. The story begins at the end of what Harry sees of Snapes memory in the OOTP.

I'd love to hear all your feedback, so please don't hesitate in letting me know what you think!

Thanks, Laura.

Disclaimer; I own nothing apart from the characters I myself have made up and the plot of this particular story. Everything else belongs to the brillant Ms Rowling. I thank her.

There was another flash of light, and Snape was once again hanging upside-down in the air.

"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"

Lily walked quickly away from the scene which was steadily drawing more attention, deliberately choosing to ignore James Potter's threat to humiliate her best friend even more. Or her former best friend, she thought savagely, the hand wrapped around her wand tightened and twitched. A mudblood? How dare he call her that? She was supposed to be his best friend. She was only trying to help him and he called her the most insulting name possible.

"Lily, you okay?" asked Abby, as Lily approached her group of friends, all of whom had been waiting and watching the scrabble by the beech tree with disgust. Lily nodded, though she was not quite sure how she felt.

"Come on," She muttered, picking up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "Let's get out of here,"

Together, the group of four girls made their way across the lawn and back up to the castle, ignoring the excited and amused raised voices that were coming from the large group to their left.

"Do you think he actually did it?" Heather asked quietly, their footsteps echoing loudly around them as they entered through the large oak front doors and into the deserted Entrance Hall. "I mean, take his pants off?"

"No, Potter's a show-off but he doesn't have the guts to do that," Replied Rose scornfully before shooting side wards glances at Lily, scrutinizing the blank expression on her best friends face. "But in my opinion, Snape deserves what he gets after what he said to you, Lily. That was clean out of line,"

Lily said nothing but continued to watch her feet as the group climbed the stairs and made their way down the long and many winding corridors to the Gryffindor Tower. Lily replayed everything over in her head, still not quite able to digest what Severus had said. They had been friends for years and he had always been nice, always friendly. He had never spoken a bad word against her before. She had stuck up for him over and over again. Her friends couldn't understand why she bothered with him, not even Rose who she was probably closest to out of them all.

"Look Lily," Rose took her hold of her arm as Heather and Abby climbed first through the portrait hole. "Don't let what Snape said get to you. I'm not going to stick up for him because he was wrong to say that and even you know it. And you also know the kind of people he hangs around with. It's obvious he's chosen his ways...and people like him, they never come back from that."

Rose gave her arm a light squeeze and climbed through the portrait hole, shaking her head at Heather's inquiring gaze as she looked back at them. With a heavy sigh, Rose heard Lily follow in behind her.

The common room was empty except for a few girls who decided to take advantage of the space to revise inside, instead of doing like most others and soaking up the sun on the grounds with their books in their laps. The four girls threw down their bags with tired sighs and slumped into their favourite chairs by the dormant fire. They sat in a semi-comfortable silence, as they all knew Rose was teetering on the edge of bringing up Snape again. She was worried for her friend and didn't particular think it wise that she should continue to keep company with Snape. Rose had seen him hanging around in the corridors after class with Avery and Mulciber, standing close together, watching students pass them by with narrowed eager eyes, carefully choosing who to attack next with whatever new curse they had dug up in the Dark Magic books they had taken from the Restricted section, courtesy of the ever gullible Professor Slughorn.

Rose had never particularly liked Potter and his gang either. They were loud and cocky, constantly showing off. She knew however, that Pettigrew and Lupin were not the main culprits, though if Pettigrew had half the amount of brains as the others he'd be at it too. Lupin on the other hand, he was more the silent observer, never involved yet never exactly uninvolved as he choose not to reprimand his friends, despite the badge he had pinned to the front of his chest.

But in fairness, he was nowhere near as bad as Black and Potter. Black was adored around school – though clearly not with the Slytherins – by both girls and boys. The girls loved him for his masculine good looks, whilst boys admired him for his constant coolness, for he was forever calm and at ease, whichever the situation. Rose however, was not so immune to his "immature wiles" as she often put it. In the same way, Lily was like that with Potter.

Potter, the great Quidditch God, was in love with Rose's best friend. He had been from the moment he'd pretty much laid eyes on her. Everyone knew it and many girls grudgingly so. Lily however, wasn't easily fascinated by his fancy wand flicking or his skilful flying, so no matter how often or how hard Potter tried Lily never failed to decline his petty attempts at asking her out.

"So James asked you again," Heather said with an amused smile, breaking the silence. They all looked up at Lily, who was thankful that Heather had spoken first instead of Rose despite the fact that the subject was on to another boy she wasn't particularly fond of.

"Yeah, guess he did," Lily smiled back, shaking her head in exasperation. "That boy really can't take a hint...no matter how many insults you throw at him."

They all laughed.

"He's not that bad really," Abby added in, receiving three incredulous looks. She frowned. "Aw come on, sure he can be an ignorant git at times but he's fifteen for crying out loud. What boy isn't at that age?"

"Remus," Heather said quietly, looking at the empty fire place with sudden interest. Rose, Lily and Abby all squealed in delight. Heather blushed a deep red and bit down hard on her lower lip.

"I knew it!" Lily said grinning broadly, scooting forward to the edge of her chair, the afternoons events temporarily forgotten. "I knew you liked him. And he is kind of cute and way more mature than those other three."

"Yeah, definitely," Rose nodded in agreement, her long dark hair falling around her face. She ran a hand through it, brushing it out of her face and frowned. "But compared to Black that's not hard. That boy really infuriates me!"

"You know, I'm not so sure," Abby said suddenly with a sly smile.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh don't get all hot and bothered Miss Donaghy, keep that Irish temper of yours down," Abby laughed, holding her hands up, palms towards Rose defensively. "All I meant was that maybe beneath all that hatred you're actually harbouring a little crush,"

Lily and Heather's eyes were wide with surprise yet there was a look of dawning on both girls faces. They smiled slowly as Rose spluttered in disbelief.

"Are you off your tether?" Rose exclaimed, causing the other girls in the common room to look over in curiosity. "That is ridiculous! I would never – he is – I can't believe you would even - that's nearly as bad as saying Lily fancies Potter!"

"Hey!" Lily protested, "Let's not bring me into this!"

"And why not?" Rose said, "Who's to say you don't really like Potter at all?"

"Now, that is ridiculous and you all know it," Lily said looking round at them. They looked back at her, smiling suggestively. "Oh come off it!"

"Well, it's very near possible," Heather said, stifling a laugh. Lily scoffed.

"Well, if that's the case, then Abby fancies Pettigrew!"

A silence fell upon the group as they all contemplated this. Lily, Heather and Rose all turned to stare at Abby whose mouth was slightly parted.

Then suddenly they all burst out laughing.

"Okay, okay," Abby sighed, wiping at a tear that escaped down her cheek as her laughter subsided. "I think we can safely say Heather's the only one to fancy anyone from that group,"

"Yeah," The rest chorused through muffled giggles.

"Come on," Heather said with a resigned sigh a while later. "Let's get a bit of Transfiguration in before we head down for the exam."

----

Sirius took one last skim through his answers, flicking through his many pieces of parchment before setting them down on his desk and pushing them away from him. Feeling satisfied with the exam and himself he leant back in his chair, tilting it slightly on its hind legs. He looked around the room lazily, noticing that a few others had finished too, including James. He shook his head with a faint laugh; James, which was no surprise really, was staring at the back of Lily Evans' head where she sat three rows to his right and five chairs up. Her expression was one of pure concentration and determination.

Sirius had to admit, he knew what James seen in her. She was pretty and no doubt smart, and the whole fiery red head thing really worked in her favour. Whether she realised it or not.

Taking another look around his gaze fell on Remus whose head was bent over so close to the parchment his nose was mere inches from it. He had written far more that Sirius in the same length of time and still didn't seem to have finished. Sirius frowned, he admired his friend in more ways than one but sometimes he just never understood him. Out of all of them Remus had the excuse not to do work, not to try...yet out of the four he was the one who tried the hardest, who did all the work.

"Five minutes everyone," Called Professor McGonagall, several people jumped and their hands were like blurs as they scurried to finish. Sirius followed McGonagall she walked down the row towards Evans. Just as she was passing, a girl with dark black hair pulled back into a sophisticated ponytail straightened up. She pushed her parchment into the middle of her desk as Sirius had done, sat back in her seat, crossed her legs and began shaking her dangling foot with impatience.

Sirius recognised her as one of the girls that Lily Evans hung around with. Donaghy or something her surname was. Trust Evans to be friends with her, Sirius thought, another hot tempered little –

"One minute left and then all quills down. There shall be no talking whilst your exams are being collected," McGonagall called sternly, looking around the Great Hall as if daring someone to disobey her.

Sirius lifted his eyes from Donaghy and instead stared at the large hour glass at the front of the hall. He watched as what little was left of the sand fell slowly into the bottom half of the glass and waited idly as Professor McGonagall cried "Accio" and all the exam papers flew neatly into her outstretched arms once everyone had put down their quills. He stood up, brushing a hand through his dark hair tiredly as the sound of chairs scraping the floor filled the Great Hall. He thought longingly of his warm four poster bed up in his dormitory but then his stomach gave a rumble and he realised he still had to have dinner.

"So what you make of it?" James asked as he walked down between the rows of desks towards him. A rush of chatter had roared up in the Hall as everyone made their way out into the Entrance Hall, all of them discussing the same thing.

"I wouldn't go as far to say an "O" but somewhere up there," Sirius grinned, ignoring the gazes of passing admiring girls as Remus and Peter joined them. He frowned as Snape walked out through the doors before them and disappeared off towards the Slytherin chambers. "I wonder how Snivelly did...or was he too distracted trying to decide whether or not he really needs to clean his pants from now on?"

James and Peter laughed as they climbed the stairs, following the rest of their fellow Gryffindors. Remus however, ignored the remark and continued to read through the exam question paper, walking slightly behind the others.

"I still say you should have ripped the grimy things off for him, Prongs, he probably would have thanked you," Sirius continued with a bark of a laugh. Several third years looked up at him timidly before rushing on ahead.

"Nah, I think the wedgy I gave him was enough," James chuckled, "I could see him squirming in his seat a few times...must have been pretty deep,"

"You pig!" Lily hissed at James surprising him as she came up behind and shoved past him with her shoulder. James tripped into Sirius as Lily marched on, but quickly straightened up and adjusted his glasses before diving after her. Rose, Heather and Abby hurried after him and past Sirius, Remus and Peter who all looked slightly taken back.

James grabbed Lily around the elbow and pulled her to a stop. He looked down at her incredulously, trying to catch his breath.

"You're still trying to stick up for him after what he called you?" He asked his eyes wide in disbelief. "Evans, jees, what is it with you? The bloody git called you a – he called you a – a you know what and you're angry at me?"

"It wouldn't have mattered if it was him or anyone else," Lily spat back, "It's the fact that you get a kick out of watching people squirm in embarrassment and you feel no remorse. I couldn't give a rats damn what he called me, you have no right to treat people the way you do, even him!"

"Calm down Evans," Sirius said in a bored voice as both groups eventually caught up with the arguing pair. "James didn't do anything Snape didn't deserve. In fact, I think he showed a lot compassion for the slimy toe rag – I was quite proud."

"Only you would be," Rose snapped, she walked to stand beside Lily who was wrenching her arm from James' grip as if it were burning her. Sirius found himself for the second time that day staring at Rose Donaghy, this time with amusement. Her dark blue eyes were flaring with anger and loathing and Sirius found he was even more amused as he continued to look at her. She was breathing heavily causing the few strands of hair that lay about her face to flutter, her eyes narrowed and seemed dangerous as she glared back at him.

"And what is that suppose to mean, Donaghy?" Sirius asked her, looking mockingly confused. He held a finger to his chin in thought. "I have the vague impression I'm supposed to be insulted,"

"Well, as dim as you are, you somehow managed to get the right impression," Rose retorted. It was Sirius' turn to glare now and Rose smiled defiantly.

"Come on, Rose, Lily," Heather took hold of her friends arms in either hand and attempted to pull them down the corridor. She threw furtive looks in Remus' direction, who had been watching everything cautiously, opening his mouth several times as if to intervene but obviously decided against it and said nothing.

"Awk Evans, come on!" James pleaded, looking exasperated.

"Just leave it, mate," Sirius said to him, looking disgruntled. "It's not your fault; the girl obviously likes being insulted by so called "Death Eaters". And by the looks of it, her friend doesn't seem to mind much either."

"You-" Rose took an angry step towards Sirius, trying to shake off Heathers hand and reached inside her robes for her wand. Sirius drew his at the exact same time. He flicked it between his long fingers casually, as if he knew it wouldn't be much of a duel if they did fight. The look on his face infuriated Rose further causing small red sparks to fly from the tip of her wand as she fought to keep control. Peter looked startled and Remus finally stepped in –James was however preoccupied, looking down at Lily, who was deliberately looking anywhere but at him. Sirius was smiling lopsidedly, an eyebrow raised at Rose. Students walking by on their way to their dormitories stopped and watched once they saw the raised wands.

"Sirius," Remus put his hand on Sirius' wand arm and attempted to push it down by his side. Sirius let him; his eyes were still locked with Rose's, who slowly lowered her wand too. She could feel blind hatred bubbling up inside her as she stared at him, his strong jaw set, his dark eyes bright.

"Let's go, Rose," Abby took hold of Rose's arm and turned her around, whipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder as she threw a nasty look at Sirius before leading Rose away. Heather did the same with Lily and together the four of them hurried towards Gryffindor Tower attracting many curious glances as they went.

"What was that?" James asked a loud, looking a little stunned.

"Those girls have serious issues," Sirius grumbled, shaking his head he put his wand back into his robes. He took a double take at Peter who was staring after the girls departing backs in awe and chuckled.

"You like her, Wormtail?" He barked a humourless laugh as they four began to follow.

"No, no," Peter spluttered, and then he frowned. "She's just...she's very...I've never met a girl so..."

"Yeah," Sirius frowned too. "Yeah,"

James ran a reckless hand through his thick, dark untidy hair.

"I just don't understand her." He muttered, more to himself than the others, though they were all listening. Even Sirius whose mind kept drifting elsewhere... "I mean, I've seen her with him talking to him. She'll give him the time of day...him, the one who calls her a frigging Mudblood-" He hissed the word in disgust. "-before she would even considering talking to me. Seriously, what is up with that?"

"I don't know, James," said Remus, looking just as dumbfounded. "Suppose that's girls for you...don't think we'll ever understand them."

Peter shook his head vigorously, his eyes wide. Sirius merely grunted incoherently.

They reached the portrait hole and clambered through to find unsurprisingly that none of the four girls were to be seen in the common room. Peter looked slightly disappointed.

"Don't worry, Wormtail," Sirius said upon seeing his face. He had pulled out his wand, pointed it at the still dormant fire, muttered an incantation and watched as flames suddenly erupted in it, causing a group of both boys and girls to jump and squeal in fright. His voice was cool and sarcastic, a sign he was still reeling after his encounter with Donaghy. "I expect you'll see her down at dinner...a girl like that needs plenty of food to fuel her temper."

"I...no...it's not...I don't...oh never mind," Peter sighed in defeat.

As you can probably tell it's not an extremely hardcore plot but hopefully, as I continue, things will be a bit more exciting. Hope you enjoyed it.