"James Potter!" Lily Evans shrieked. "How DARE you! What did Severus ever do to you? Leave him alone!"
"Ah, why would I want to do that?" James smirked.
"Leave him alone!" Lily repeated
"I don't need your help, Mudblood!" Severus snarled angrily.
Sirius looked around the mostly deserted hallway. Lily stared at Snape for several seconds, tears flowing down her face, and then she turned and ran. James turned back to Snape with a curse on his lips.
Sirius hesitated. Memories of Regulus flew through his mind, most particularly the day, just a few months earlier, their friendship had met its permanent end. He thought of how upset Lily probably was right now, because even though he hated Snape, he was Lily's friend. And he thought of how much he had wished, last summer, that he'd had someone to talk to, as sappy as it sounded. "No."
James and Snape both looked at him incredulously.
In a firmer voice, Sirius repeated, "No. James, Gryffindors take care of their own. Don't you think Evans, who just lost her best friend, is a bit more important than this piece of slime?"
James gaped.
"James, get a grip," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Or would you rather have her sit alone, being miserable, because she just lost her best friend? You claim to like her, so get up and go make her feel better!"
"Right," James muttered, absently petrifying Snape. He was still looking at Sirius like he'd been possessed, but added, "Let's go find her."
James sat on his bed, a puzzled expression on his face as he thought back over the day. Sirius had been… nothing like his usual self. Well, since they'd come back to school, he'd been a little more quiet, a little less reckless, but nothing so obvious.
Sirius entered their dorm then, a frown on his face.
James blurted, before he could even think to stop himself, "What was up with you today, Sirius?"
Sirius sighed and sat on the bed across from him. "Evans just lost her best friend. Leaving her alone, like that, she'd have been miserable. She needed someone to talk to, and what kind of Gryffindors are we if we aren't going to be there when our school-family needs us?"
James blinked, staring at Sirius in confusion. "You're far too sensitive to be Sirius Black. Who are you and what the hell did you do with Sirius?"
Sirius' eyes narrowed and his fists clenched. "James, I have been where she is. Just let it go. She needed someone and we were there, that's it."
"You've been where she is?" James repeated in confusion.
Sirius sighed. "Yes. I have."
"I don't get it," James admitted.
"This summer… well, have you noticed, this year, that I haven't talked to Reg at all? Not even a little?" Sirius muttered, looking anywhere but at James.
"Oh… not really, but looking back, yeah," James answered sheepishly.
"Well, our friendship hasn't been anything but strained in years. But it was still there, until this summer, when everything got worse. I don't really want to talk about it, James, but then, when it had just happened, I'd have given a whole hell of a lot to have someone there to support me."
James was silent for a minute, taking in this knowledge and feeling like a horrible friend. "I never even noticed. I'm so sorry, Sirius."
Sirius nudged him. "Let it go," he repeated. "Just forget about it. Now, I don't know about you, but I think that slimy git deserves some hell for what he did to Lily," he said mischievously, though there was a fierce note in his voice that took James a few seconds to place.
It was the way Sirius got when the Marauders were threatened, the way he'd once reacted when Regulus had been threatened. He was feeling protective. He was getting revenge for someone he cared about.
Whatever Lily and Sirius had talked about when he hadn't been there today, Lily had somehow wormed her way onto the very short list of people who could get through Sirius Black's shell.
James put it out of his mind as Sirius started to plan their revenge on Snape, but he couldn't help but wonder what had been said between the two of them.