Hello everyone!

So, this is kind of a short version of my longer chapter story, Unforgettable. It's from Sirius's point of view. I hope you like it, and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: Sirius is JKR's. Seriously.

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When my best mate looks at Lily Evans, I know what he's thinking.

I always knew, mind you. Of course I did, he's my best mate.

In all honesty, I knew what he was thinking better than he did.

I knew, for example, that when he saw her first year with that greasy-haired slimeball he was confused and a bit jealous.

Now, you might be wondering how I could have possibly known then. Well, it was easy. Well, maybe not easy. Easy implies that there was some sort of effort involved.

It was more innate.

When I got on the Hogwarts Express first year, I met a boy whose face I could read. It was innate.

And, of course, it didn't hurt that we had been speaking only moments before about girls. We agreed that the first ones to talk to the girls would be the coolest, so we would have to beat all the other blokes to the punch.

And then that ugly git walked in, already chums with a pretty little redhead.

Well, you can understand how that would have made James jealous.

Although I don't think he meant for the pretty little redhead to run off with the slimeball. He looked confused when she left with him. But he thought he was angry. And he thought he was in love.

"Did you see her?" He had asked me when the compartment door slammed shut behind them, "Did you see her hair?"

He wasn't in love.

I knew it. But he didn't.

He spent all of second year trying to convince the world, or at least the Hogwarts world, that he was in love with her. But when he looked at her, I knew.

He wasn't any more in love with her than he was with the giant squid.

Oh, he thought he was. Believe me, he most definitely thought he was. But he was nothing more than a spoiled, twelve year old boy who wanted the one thing Mummy and Daddy couldn't buy him.

He only made that fact more obvious when he got a package from home one morning at breakfast. It was obviously a broomstick. He didn't need to unwrap it at the table and flash it about, there were already twenty boys surrounding it begging to take a look.

But he was James, and he just had to unwrap it and hold it up like a trophy.

And the way he looked at it…well, that was the way he looked at Lily. Like a trophy.

He spent all of third year trying to figure out why she had such a hold on him.

He would spend hours lying in bed, playing with that ever-present snitch and staring at the ceiling, pausing every once in a while to ask, "Why do I care so much?"

I would just grin and shake my head. He didn't want the answer, really. He just wanted me to pretend that I couldn't see it either.

I did pretend for him, but I could see it.

He cared because he had spent the day asking her to our first Hogsmeade trip, turning down seven other girls so that he could ask her. He cared because his head was the size of a blimp—and yes, I did know what a blimp was. I started Muggle Studies third year, and I distinctly remember comparing the size of his ego to the size of a blimp—by the time he asked her to Hogsmeade. He walked up, looking at her like she was blessed to be spoken to.

Needless to say, she returned the favor by slapping his face down to normal size.

Well, I never said she was an angel either.

By the time we got to fourth year, he wasn't so "inactive in my quest," as he put it.

I'm sure you can all tell that it would only lead him to trouble.

But he had no idea.

He would see her across the common room and get this glimmer in his eyes—almost like he'd seen a particularly juicy piece of steak. And then he'd actually slink across the room until he was sitting opposite her, somewhere that he had a perfect view of her face.

And yes, I was aware that his expression was a little too possessive. And slightly stalkerish.

I was also aware that Lily Evans could muster up the best jelly-legs jinx I had ever seen.

And she used it often.

I would go over to help him up after she had stormed away, and that look on his face…was glazed.

There was no other word for it, it was simply glazed.

Now, some of the romantics out there might think that his eyes were glazed over with love, but the truth of the matter is that eyes don't glaze over with love. Love is too strong an emotion to be conveyed through any glazing.

And his eyes were only glazed.

Fifth year presented a different problem.

One that James will never know about.

Because that was the year that Remus and Lily became prefects.

And while I wasn't quite as attuned to Remus's face as I was to James's, even I was astounded that James didn't notice Remus's little crush. I had a little talk with him about a month into that year, and he told me what I needed to hear.

And then there was the day at the end of fifth year. You all know it. It wasn't my shining moment, I'll admit.

It was the day at the lake, the day that I have to thank that slimy git for, because it turned the tide in James's favor.

James didn't know it then, but the slimeball did.

We all watched Lily storm off, and I saw the slimeball's eyes widen as he took in James's expression.

James was concerned for Lily. And angry for her.

She didn't need him to be angry for her. She had enough anger for herself. So she pushed him away without realizing what had just happened.

But I knew. And slimeball knew.

That was the first time James looked at how he effected her instead of just how she effected him. His emotions were actually for her that day.

I got to listen to him relieve that day all summer. A few times, I thought he might have actually realized that something monumental happened that day. But he didn't. He dwelled on the emotions and forgot about what they might mean.

Sixth year was an improvement.

Anyone could see it. I think even Evans saw it.

He barely talked to her, but don't let that fool you. He was far from staying away. We all had classes together, and somehow he would always be there to open doors for her and pull out chairs for her. She was a little intrepid about this, but I could tell she had nothing to worry about. I could see the emotion in his eyes.

And soon enough, she started to see it too.

It probably helped that McGonagall made her spend two hours alone with James every week. Those tutoring sessions made him golden.

Somewhere in that year, she started to want him around. I wasn't entirely sure about this at first, and, James being James, was completely oblivious. But then she invited him to see her over the summer, and I knew how his story would end.

When seventh year came around, he got Head Boy. And if I thought McGonagall was trying to contrive anything sixth year, it was nothing to this. Remus should definitely have gotten Head, but no, it goes to James Potter.

And of course, Dumbledore would have missed his mark if he hadn't made Lily Evans the Head Girl.

It got dark that year. The atmosphere in the castle was more dangerous than I care to remember. And it put Lily in danger.

I can't explain to you how I understood his expression. I'd certainly never seen it before, so only Merlin knows how I recognized it. But maybe it was because I expected to see it on his face soon enough.

Or maybe it was because it was a mix of all the other things I used to see. He was jealously possessive, and emotionally protective. And deep down, I think he still thought of her as his prize.

But then one day, I walked in on them talking in the Heads' dorm and saw it on his face. He was in love.

Finally, he was actually in love with the poor girl. All those years he had been telling her, he wasn't lying really. He thought he was in love. And at that moment, he was finally right.

I wondered, after that day, how long it would take her to realize. He never would, of course. I don't think he ever noticed how his feelings changed over the years.

But she did.

And it didn't take her very long.

I had to tease it out of her a bit, but it came out eventually. James wanted to rush it, poor, inexperienced boy. But I guided him through it, and soon enough she asked him to Hogsmeade.

Yep, you heard right.

It was one of my more brilliant accomplishments, if I do say so myself.

He came running up to me in the Great Hall, and he didn't even have to tell me. I could see it all over his face.

I am his best mate, after all.

And reading his face was always innate.

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I hope you liked it! And please review!