Disclaimer for the whole story: The clever JKR owns Harry Potter. I only write for my own amusement and other's.

"And love is a homeless guy
Searching for treasure in the middle of the rain and
Finding a bag of gold coins and slowly finding out they're all filled with chocolate and
Even though he's heart-broken, he can't complain 'cause he was hungry in the first place."

Credit to Bo Burnham, the most creative, perverted white rapper I've ever heard.

An Apology of Sorts

Sirius Black left the Hogwarts Express this afternoon, knowing somewhere in his head, something significant was going to happen. He saw his parents standing stiffly on the platform, and before he went to them he turned to James, "I'll write to you tonight to tell you how everything goes. Don't answer or reply."

He knew his parents highly disproved his choice of friends, and as much as he liked to annoy the hell out of them, he could tell something was up when he saw his horrid mother's expression. He left his friends and walked stiffly to his parents.

"Mother," he said hugging her coldly, "Father," he said shaking his hand.

"Sirius," his father said simply.

Regulus had noticed his parent's expressions too and carefully greeted them. The brothers did not acknowledge each other. Why should a Gryffindor and Slytherin converse? They had nothing to say to each other.

Not one word was exchanged on the way home. Sirius only took it as trouble and began skirting away from his parents as soon as he arrived to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

.:.

Lily Evans reached her modest family home in mostly welcome company of her parents. Her sister, Petunia, scoffed at her and refused to be in the same room as Lily.

Lily had gotten used to it, but it still stung that her sister had not yet still accepted her, nearly six years later. She sighed and went to her room to unpack. She was dreading going to her room, for it had so many memories of Severus Snape.

It was almost impossible to comprehend that Severus Snape, who was quiet boy whose friendly letters and thoughtful presents covered all over Lily's room was the same boy who called a mudblood a week ago. He had changed so much fifth year. The increasing attacks and influence of an upcoming Dark wizard who named himself Lord Voldemort had struck fear into everyone's heart. It caused Severus to make good friends with the Slytherins and to eventually fall to their influence.

Lily had known that they were falling out for months now, but she wouldn't have thought in a million years that the word mudblood would ever come from his lips towards her. She felt a lump grow in the back of her throat and tears threatened to fall from her eyes. She stubbornly wiped away the tears.

Since the verbal attack from Snape, Lily had gotten many people's sympathies. Nearly everyone in the fifth year Gryffindor dormitory had asked her how she was doing and told her that if she ever needed to talk, they'd be there. She appreciated the effort but was annoyed that she was never left alone.

She realized that she alone now; she noticeably broke down. She laid on her bed and covered her cheeks and pillow in saltwater tear stains.

Sometimes, she thought, all you need is a good cry.

.:.

Dear Evans,
James Potter scribbled over his messy handwriting, crumbled up the parchment and threw it towards the tower of rubbish in his room. Too nice.

Evans, he wrote. "There, now at least I have the bleeding heading," he said aloud to himself.

.:.

James Potter paced around his room. He was waiting for his owl's return. He sent the apologetic letter a total of 30 seconds ago. He was slightly hoping for a letter in reply. Even if it was a letter full of venom, he'd probably save it. If it had small or no trace of venom, he'd probably send it to his friends, the Marauders.

The Marauders were an inseparable group of now-sixth-year in the Gryffindor house. They met on the train ride to Hogwarts first year and have never left each others' sides, except to the toilet. They weren't girls, for Godric's sake.

James was also waiting for a letter from Sirius to see how his family situation is going. He knew that the rift between Sirius's views and his parents were getting more and more difficult for either to remain neutral, but James just hoped that Sirius would act rationally.

He snorted, Sirius and rationally shouldn't be in the same sentence.

.:.

"Sirius!" a shrill voice screamed up the stairs, "Dinner!"

He gracefully galloped down the stairs and into the kitchen where he found his "perfect" brother already sitting at the table. He sat down, expecting someone to say something. No one did.

"How was home after Easter?" Sirius asked, trying to get any conversation going.

"Fine," his mother simply stated.

The silence ensued.

"Is everything okay?" Sirius asked. Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius noticed that Regulus smirked.

"Sirius," the father said, "Are you aware of a powerful wizard who calls himself the Dark Lord?"

Sirius's fists clench, "Yes."

"Your mother and I think it is best if you break off from your little Gryffindor friends. They won't live long after graduation in the war, and we think that it's best suited if you befriend the old family friends." Sirius looked at his father outraged. His father continued, "If you do not comply with our demands, there will be severe punishment, Sirius." Sirius did not answer. He was boiling inside, but he knew that if he got angry now, it would damage things in the long run.

"Sirius," his mother said sharply, "if you do not leave those mudbloods, half-bloods and blood traitors you call friends, we will disown you. We have enough embarrassment from your placement into Gryffindor. Take a leaf out of your brother's book for a change."

Sirius pushed away from the table rather forcefully, "Embarrassment?" he yelled. "I'm the embarrassment in this family, for actually being good? Do you hear yourself speak? It's inconvincible how ignorant you are, you crazy bitch! Voldemort is going to win the war? All of my friends are going to die? I hope you enjoy seeing your eldest son become an Auror. Rot in hell." With that he stormed out of the dining room and straight up to his room, ignoring the outcries from his parents. It was lucky he hadn't unpacked anything yet; he grabbed his truck, wand and broom and left Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. It would be about eighteen years before he'd enter that house again. He turned to get one last look at his childhood home when he saw Regulus, shock apparent on his face, standing on the doorstep.

"Please Regulus, I'm not asking you to leave with me, but please see the light in this war. Don't become a Death Eater or a slave to Voldemort. Don't get yourself killed doing something stupid," Sirius said to his younger brother, whom he still had a soft spot for.

Regulus looked too shocked for words. Sirius shook his brother's hand, and he could swear that he heard Regulus mutter, "See you at the end of the war, brother. Don't get yourself killed."

He looked at his younger brother, knowing this would be the last civil conversation with his childhood companion. His eyes began to water, "Good-bye, Regulus." He pushed off the ground and took the direction to the Potter Manor.

.:.

It seemed as if Lily's eyes had no more tears to give when a peck on the window immediately alarmed her.

Her eyes focused at the window to see an unfamiliar but handsome barn owl with alarmingly green eyes. She quickly went to the window and opened it. The owl flew in a loop around the room before gracefully landing on Lily's desk. Attached to its leg was a piece of parchment.

Extremely curious now, she untied the parchment with her shaking hands. She unrolled the parchment and scanned the letter, immediately seeing a messy scrawl that she hasn't seen but had an uncanny feeling whose handwriting it was. It read:

Evans,

She scoffed at how impolite and informal way the letter started.

I'm writing this letter to you because every time I try to go and talk to you, you don't let me get closer than 5 meters. Plus, if I tried to say a word to you, I'd end up sounding like a prat. I'm rambling; I know. I also know that I'm the absolute last person you'd want to talk to. But, I feel like I need to apologize. I feel as if I caused the whole incident after the Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL. Actually, I did. I feel bloody rubbish about it too. Everyone knows I dislike Snape, but you liked him, and there had to be some reason to that. I apologize for the whole scene. I take full responsibilities for what Snape and I said. I know I could not possibly mend what Snape said, but don't blame everything on him.

If you'd like to reply, you can use my owl. If you don't want to, just tell her to go.

Sincerest apologies,

Potter

Lily laughed out loud to his rambling. She could tell though that this was a sincere apology. She sort of felt bad that he had taken all of the responsibility; She and Snape would have fallen out eventually.

"Stay right there," Lily ordered the owl. The owl's intelligent eyes showed that she understood. Lily didn't have an owl, so she didn't have owl treats, but the least she could do was give it a break and some water as she wrote.

She skipped down the stairs, hiding her red eyes from her parents. She hated to have people know that she had cried. She quickly filled a small bowl with water and went back upstairs quickly. She placed the bowl near the owl, "Drink."

Pulling out a quill, new piece of parchment and a bottle of ink, she wrote a reply back.

Potter,

She figured she'd start the letter the same way he started his.

Thanks for the letter. It actually meant a lot to me that you wrote it. A real prat wouldn't have. Please don't take full responsibilities towards Severus. We had many disagreements and fights before OWL's, and it just kind of exploded with the incident with you.

She paused, her quill in mid-air, what to write next. She could simply write, Thanks, Evans or she could open up to someone once in her life other than Severus.

There was a legitimate reason towards liking Snape at first. He was the first that introduced me to the magical world. People change for the better or worse, and he just happened to pick the latter. We've long picked our sides of our lives after Hogwarts, careers and sides of the war. We just happened to pick opposites. It just really seemed to bother me because I was being ignorant that he really hadn't become dark yet. It was too blinding to ignore after the incident. I apologize, as I'm rambling.

Thanks for everything,

Evans

She carefully tied the note to owl's leg. She patted its luxurious feathers before opening the window. She hoped that Potter wouldn't pick this time to become a prat again.

This is my second storyline fiction. Both are about James and Lily, but I decided to make this one a little different. First, it starts in a different, earlier spot. Second, the plot will hopefully be more complex (and no handcuffs this time!). Third, the characters will more defined and have more unique personalities. And fourth, I'm going to try to put related quotes to on the top the chapter. Reviews are very welcome, and I always respond to them on the next chapter.