"Hey, Evans!" Sirius called as he approached the redhead sitting under the old Oak tree. It was a week before the end of the term in their fourth year at Hogwarts.
"Yes, Black?" Lily replied, marking her page in her book and looking over at Sirius as he sat down next to her.
"Why won't you go out with James?" Sirius asked.
"Because he annoys me. The first couple of times he asked me out, I considered saying yes, but when he started asking me out twice a day, I got annoyed. It seems like he is just asking me out just because I said no at first, that he doesn't actually want to go out with me."
"Oh, well, I can assure you that is not the case. He really does like you." Sirius replied happily, believing that Lily Evans would go out with his best friend now that she knew his intentions were real. "So, you'll go out with him now?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because, in addition to being annoying by asking me out all the time, he also tries to impress me by showing off with that Snitch and ruffling his hair. Just because he was Seeker in our second year, he thinks he needs to remind everyone that he could be playing the star role on the Quidditch team, even though he's been playing Chaser for the past two years. He's trying to bait me with his snobbery. Oh, and then there's the fact that he goes around cursing everyone who he doesn't like or thinks he is better than."
"Wow. I didn't know he cursed people to show off. I thought it was just because he wanted to or because he was bored."
"Even worse."
"But come on, Evans, you have to admit he's funny and talented." Sirius prompted.
"He does have his funny moments when he's nowhere near the Slytherins or the younger students, and I never said he wasn't talented. I just find it annoying that he has to remind everyone that he is, and that goes for you, too, Black."
"Moi?" Sirius asked, astonished. "I show off?"
"Yes, Black. You are not as bad as Potter, but you do show off."
"Oh. Well, I just want you to know that James really does like you. Please think about that."
"Whatever." Lily muttered to herself as Sirius walked away.
"Hey, James." Sirius said as he approached his best friend, who was sitting in the Gryffindor common room in one of the seats by the fire, having pushed a second-year out of the seat.
"Hey, how did it go, Sirius? What did Evans say?" James asked eagerly.
"She finds you annoying, mate. But I told her you really do like her, so maybe she'll think about going out with you. In the meantime, try not to ask her out so much. Maybe you should try asking out someone else." Sirius told him.
"Whatever." James muttered.
"Hey, Evans," Sirius greeted Lily as he approached her and her friends down by the lake, "Can I speak to you for just a minute?"
"I guess so," Lily sighed as she stepped away from her friends. A year had passed since the discussion the two had had, and she had a feeling as to what Sirius wanted to talk to her about now as they sat down beneath the shade of the same oak tree they had spoken under the year before.
"You know, James was only trying to defend you the other day, when he was cursing Snape." Sirius began.
Lily raised her eyebrows.
"Okay, okay, it didn't start out that way, but part of that was him trying to defend you. That has to count for something." Sirius amended.
"No, I don't think so. You two started it just because you wanted to. If he had cursed one of you guys first, it may have been different, but he was just sitting there minding his own business. And even if he had started it, there are better ways of settling your differences than cursing each other. You two could be the better people and simply disarm him or walk away. When you retaliate, you are just as bad if not worse than the bullies."
"You know, there are only some people who James bullies, like the Slytherins, who are just evil," Sirius scowled, "and the younger students who need to learn what the world is like. He is a really great friend to Remus, Peter, and me."
Lily sighed thoughtfully. After staring at her hands for a few moments, she looked up at Sirius and asked, "You remember my dad died of a heart attack a few years ago?"
Sirius nodded, and Lily continued, "He was a very kind and considerate man. The summer before I came to Hogwarts, he was in the hospital because he had had his first heart attack. One day I went to visit him while he was in the hospital, and I was talking to him about what happened while I was at the park with some of my friends. There was a boy there who we all thought was cute. He was picking on some younger kids who were playing on the merry-go-round. As he did this, he kept looking over at us, as if he were picking on them to show off to us. We didn't realize he was being a bully, we just saw that he was cute and that he was 'funny.' Well, when I told my father about this, you know what he said?"
Sirius shook his head.
"He said, 'Lily, if you want to see what a man is like, look at the way he treats his inferiors, not his equals.'"
Sirius just started at her.
"I realize that Potter is a good friend to you, and I know he has many good qualities," she paused, "but if he goes around picking on people who are younger or weaker, it makes me think of that day at the hospital talking to my dad and realizing I need to pay more attention to what guys are like all the time, not just when they are around their friends."
Sirius sat there, thinking, as she returned to her friends.
"Hey, James," Sirius said solemnly as he sat next to James in the common room.
James looked up expectantly, but his face fell quickly, "Didn't go well, did it?"
"She told me a story about her dad and how he taught her that to see what a man is like, she should watch how he treats his inferiors and enemies, too, not just his friends and equals.'"
"Oh," James paused, "I guess that includes Sniv- I mean Snape and all of the younger students, huh?"
"Yeah, I think so, mate."
The two boys sat thoughtfully side by side, as the fire burned out.
"Hey, Lily," Sirius called as he chased after her as they left the Great Hall after breakfast one day during the last week of their sixth year.
"Hey, Sirius, what's up?" Lily said.
"Can I talk to you? You want to walk around the grounds?" Sirius asked.
Lily nodded, "Okay."
They walked in silence until they reached the old oak tree, and Sirius asked, "What do you think of James now?"
Lily smiled, "I think he has grown up a lot in the last year. I haven't seen him curse anyone without reason, he is as nice to the younger kids as he is to all the sixth and seventh years, he seems to have deflated his head a bit…" she trailed off, "It's like he's a completely different person." She paused again. "Actually, both of you seem different. I've noticed the pranks you guys have been playing this past year have been relatively harmless, and they seem more fun-oriented than malicious. And I don't know what happened between you two and Snape, but I've noticed he seems even angrier than usual and that you two have been trying not to retaliate. I don't know what's gotten into you and James, but I like it."
"We listened to the wisdom of a friend." Sirius replied with a grin.
"Really, who?"
"Just…someone," he replied vaguely. "So, would you go out with James, now?"
"He hasn't asked me," she said with a smile.
James saw the smile on his best friend's face as he approached him in a corner of the Gryffindor common room. "Hey, Padfoot, what's going on?"
"I just got back from talking to a certain Gryffindor prefect, who does not seem to mind you very much," Sirius grinned.
James' face broke into a huge smile, "Really?"
Sirius just nodded, still smiling. James jumped up and hugged his friend and ran up to the dorm to tell Peter and Remus.
Later that week, as they got off the train at King's Cross, James pulled Lily aside and asked if he could write to her over the holiday, and she smiled shyly and said, "that would be nice."
They wrote each other every week that summer, and when they returned to Hogwarts for their final year, they were both glad to be working together as Head Boy and Girl. When the first Hogsmeade weekend came around in October, James asked Lily if she would like to meet up sometime, and she replied, "Sure, I don't have any plans for the day at all. When do you want to meet?"
"How about we walk there together and spend the whole morning looking around in the shops?"
"That would be nice."
They ended up spending not only the whole morning together, but the whole day, though they were joined by Sirius, Remus, and Peter in the afternoon, all of whom Lily now considered her friends.
Two years later, James and Sirius stood side by side in their tuxedos.
"You know, I thinks this is the best day of my life," James told Sirius.
"You mean, the day you met me isn't?" Sirius joked.
James rolled his eyes then said, "Listen, I can't thank you enough for helping me out with Lily these past few years."
Sirius shook his head, "Hey, don't mention it, I made a really good friend in the process."
Sirius thought of all of these instances as he approached his friends' destroyed house a couple of years later, and then again as he sat in a cave talking to their son and his friends several years after that. He would always miss them, but he would always remember what he learned from them.