~Picking Up the Pieces~
Summary: James Potter is being a prat. Lily is crying, and Sirius is more than willing to help.
Author's Note: This one-shot was originally posted under my other pen name Alexander Search. That account has been deleted, and some of the stories will be reposted here. I have changed the title and deleted the song lyrics that were included in the original version, but otherwise, the story is the same.
...
James Potter was being an idiot. But that wasn't exactly breaking news, was it? James was always an idiot. Normally, Sirius didn't mind, since James was his best friend. And James came up with the most excellent pranks, always laughed madly at Sirius' jokes, and he was a stunning Quidditch player. So who cared if the boy was a bit of a moron at times?
But this time, it was different. This time, James had made Lily Evans cry.
Of course, James had made a lot of girls cry. James loved the chase, and very few girls were able to resist the Gryffindor Seeker with his perpetually messy hair and winning smile. James chased after the girls, one by one, with the fierce determination of a Seeker in hot pursuit of a snitch. But as soon as he had caught them, the game was over. Remus and Sirius chided James mildly for breaking one heart after another, but they were secretly rather impressed by James' unparalleled skills in the art of seduction. Besides, being friends with James also meant that you had access to broken-hearted girls who needed consoling all the time, and both Remus and Sirius had managed to get quite a few dates out of James' reject pile. Even Peter had managed to get himself kissed by one whose heart (and brain, Sirius couldn't help but wonder) had been shattered by James Potter.
But then the unthinkable had happened. James Potter had met The One. Her name was Lily Evans, and she had hair like fire, eyes like emeralds, and a mouth like a rosebud. James' friends were waiting, breathlessly, to pick up the pieces when James dumped her. Sirius was watching Lily closely for the telltale signs of heartbreak: Pallor, red-rimmed eyes, pathetic attempts to get James' friends to pass him perfumed notes... He would help her when that time came. In fact, he was looking forward to it.
But week after week passed, and James didn't dump Lily Evans. Instead, he followed her around with such a pathetic look on his face that even Peter couldn't have looked more pitiful.
The startled whispers started to spread through the school: James Potter was in love. And it didn't end when he kissed her, either. James kissed Lily on the Quidditch pitch, in the Gryffindor common room, in empty classrooms, behind the shelves in the library, and on hidden staircases. He kept kissing her, and yet he didn't seem to be about to dump her for another girl any time soon.
Sirius could see what had caused this startling change in James, of course. Lily's eyes were so insanely lovely and so bright green that they seemed to Avada all rational thought right out of your head when she looked at you. In fact, Sirius himself realized that green was actually a very fetching color, and he began to make little watercolor sketches of all sorts of green things. Not of Lily's eyes of course - that would have been silly - but things like Reggie's Slytherin scarf and snakes and dragons and things like that. But he never managed to get the shade exactly right; even the brightest green hues his brush was able to produce struck him as dull and lifeless compared to... He groaned inwardly. No, better not go there.
And then the most amazing thing happened.
James Potter, in an unprecedented act of idiocy, broke Lily's heart. He had been faithful to Lily for several months before his old nature began to manifest itself. When Sirius asked about it later, James really couldn't explain himself at all. James had been on his way to Quidditch practice, and a Ravenclaw girl had smiled at him. And James Potter, the moron, had lost his head. He stopped. He talked. He flirted. And then he kissed.
And that's when Lily had come around the corner and seen it all.
And here she was, back in the Gryffindor common room, sobbing in Sirius' arms. And Sirius was running his fingers through that fiery red hair, and his hand was trembling so badly that he was worried that she would notice, even in her current state of misery.
"It's all right, Lily," he whispered. "James is an idiot. He's the biggest moron who ever lived. You are better off without him."
Lily looked up at him, her eyes so impossibly bright that Sirius thought he would faint. "Better off without him?" she breathed. "But I don't want to be without him. I love him so much. Oh, Sirius, how can I get him back?"
Sirius stroked her tear-wet face gently and gazed at her rosebud mouth.
"I"ve got an idea, Lily." He tried to keep his voice calm and friendly. "Why don't you try to make him jealous?"
"Jealous?" Lily considered this for a moment. "Do you really think that would work?"
"Of course it would." Sirius nodded enthusiastically now. "I'll help you, Lily."
Sirius drew a deep breath. Then he bent down and captured her lips with his own. Sirius had kissed quite a few girls, but this... This was something else altogether. This was pure magic. The kiss felt so sweet that it almost bordered on pain. Sirius buried his hands in Lily's flaming hair and lost himself in the kiss.
"What are you DOING?" James' startled cry broke them apart.
No. No. This wasn't right. Sirius needed Lily back in his arms. He needed to feel that soft fiery hair flow over his fingers, and he needed to feel her mouth against his.
James Potter threw Sirius up against the wall. "What do you think you are doing, kissing my girlfriend, Black? I'm going to kill you, you devious traitor!"
"You were the one who broke up with her," muttered Sirius.
"I did not."
"Well, you kissed someone else, and she was upset..."
James turned to Lily, his face flushed. "Oh, Merlin, Lily, what have I done?" he whispered. "I love you so much. You mean more to me than life itself, and now I have driven you into his arms-"
Yeah, right. Sirius groaned. Lily wasn't going to fall for that, was she?
Apparently she was. The next instant, Lily and James had flung their arms around one another, and they were kissing each other with such passion that Sirius closed his eyes in disgust.
...
James caught up with Sirius in the boys' dormitory that night. There was a big grin on his face and quite a few bruises on his neck.
"Thanks, Black!"
Sirius felt like hitting him. But James was his best friend, after all. Sirius sighed. "Thanks for what?"
"For bringing Lily and me back together again." James grinned. "At first I thought you were kissing her because... well, because you liked her, I suppose. I was ready to punch your face in, too. But Lily explained it all to me later on - she said that you just kissed her to make me jealous."
"Make you jealous. Yes. That was it." Sirius turned his face to the wall.
James patted him on the shoulder. "It worked, too, you know. I didn't really know how much I loved her until right then. Thanks, mate! You are a good friend, Black."
"Any time," whispered Sirius without turning around.