Chapter 2

"So did you do anything besides shag him?" Stephanie asked once they had finished talking about her and Emily's sex lives.

"Yes, I did other stuff," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "We visited an art museum, a few monuments, and ruins."

"His hotel room?" Emily smirked.

Lily stared at her friend and laughed. "Why am I friend with you guys? How did I get to be friends with you?"

"Aw Lily, you know you love us," Emily leaned over, hugging her friend. Stephanie did the same.

"Besides, we're a good influence on you."

"Good?" Lily questioned. "You guys are not a good influence on me. I'm the good influence here. If it wasn't for me, both of you would be pregnant."

"Ouch, Lily that hurts," Emily said, trying to hold a straight face.

"It's true though," Stephanie shrugged, a sheepish grin on her face. "God, what is it about foreign men that makes me fall for them? I am so glad that none of the boys at Hogwarts are even remotely cute."

"Speak for your self," Emily scoffed. "Hello? Are you forgetting about the devils who named themselves the Marauders?"

"Just when I forgot about them, you had to bring them back up," Stephanie sighed.

"Did you not tell us something Stephanie?" Lily asked. Stephanie was obsessed with the Marauders, at least last year she had been.

Stephanie smacked her forehead and then started to blush. "Well, I never told you this, but, um, me and Remus, yeah we had a little something this summer."

"You and Remus? Remus Lupin?" Emily and Lily exclaimed, shock written all over the faces.

"We didn't do anything," Stephanie moaned, hiding her face in her hands. "I swear we didn't. He's way too nice to do anything like that."

"So what happened?"

"I was scared! I fell really hard for him and it was scary; so I broke things off abruptly," Stephanie confessed.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Lily asked.

"Because I was embarrassed. Guys fall in love with me, not the other way around. I think I got more hurt than him, though," Stephanie admitted.

"You should've stayed with him, you guys would be so cute together," Lily gushed.

"Like you and James?" Emily said.

"Or not," Lily said.

"Aw come on, James is in love with you and, admit it, you're starting to fall in love with him," Emily said.

"Trust me, I'm not falling for him," Lily told her.

"Yeah, don't forget about her Spanish lover, that's her current guy," Stephanie smirked.

"He is not!" Lily whined. "Besides, I haven't talked to him since then."

"You mean to tell me you shagged him and haven't talked to him since? You've been back for over a week, honey," Emily said.

"Don't worry, I'll be talking to him," Lily told them, "Trust me."

------------------------------------------

When Sirius woke up from his nap he found that the sky had darkened considerably and his friends were already starting to get in their uniforms.

"'Morning sleeping beauty," Remus joked, pulling out his uniform shirt from his open trunk on the seat.

"Were you planning on waking me?" Sirius asked, rubbing his tired eyes as he stood up to get his trunk.

"No, we were going to leave you in here so that the candy lady could take you home and make you her love puppet," James laughed, stripping his shirt off and putting on the crisp, white collared uniform shirt.

Sirius grimaced and stuck out his tongue. "Now I'm getting a mental image," Sirius grimaced. "Thanks a lot Prongs."

"My pleasure," James grinned. Sirius rolled his eyes and pulled open his trunk and rummaged through the wrinkled shirts and peeling books.

"Jeez, Sirius, what happened? A tornado?" Remus asked, peering into Sirius' trunk as he tied his tie.

"Yeah, well. I didn't start packing until last night," Sirius explained, scratching his head. "That's what happens when you have no authority at your house."

"You are so lucky," Peter sighed, looking up at Sirius as he took off his shirt to expose a fleshy stomach.

"Not really, it gets incredibly boring without a mother to yell at you," Sirius said sarcastically. "But really, my house is a complete mess, I'm thinking about hiring a cleaning service or something during the school year to make sure nothing's growing in there."

"You've only lived there for a month or so," James said, laughing.

"Yeah, but I'm a teenage boy who hates to clean," Sirius answered, pulling his shirt over his head and pulling on his uniform.

"You hate cleaning enough to let stuff grow in your house?" Remus asked, appalled at the thought of the messiness.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure that stuff is growing in there but it's very likely," Sirius said, tying his tie but loosening it considerably.

"That's disgusting."

"I know," Sirius laughed.

When the compartment became silent and all the boys could hear was the wind howling outside and the occasional words muttered under one's breath, James cleared his throat and looked at Sirius expectantly.

"So how was your trip this summer?" James asked cautiously. The few times that James had seen Sirius, it had been a closed subject. Peter and Remus looked up from whatever they were doing and looked between the two boys. Sirius continued to mess around in his trunk as if nothing had happened.

"Fine," Sirius answered a few moments later. He kept his head bowed as if he was searching for something in his trunk.

"Where'd you go?" James asked.

"Just places," Sirius answered.

"Places? What kind of places?" James asked, pressing Sirius for information.

"Nowhere," Sirius replied as he started to get frustrated.

"So first you went places and then you went nowhere?" James asked. He wanted information. Sirius was his best friend, damn-it, so why wasn't he telling him anything?

"It's none of your business James, ok?" Sirius said, finally looking up at James. His eyes were slits and were glaring at James.

"Fine," James answered, glaring back Sirius. Remus and Peter looked between the two glaring friends and went back to their own trunks as if nothing had happened.

---------------------------------------------------

"So what's your problem with James?" Sirius asked Lily one day as they sat under the sun on a patio of a restaurant.

"He just annoys me," Lily answered, shrugging her shoulders.

"But why? Girls kill for James to be in love with them," Sirius said, taking a chip and dipping it in the chunky salsa before them.

"He's just not my type of guy."

"What is your type of guy?" Sirius asked Lily. Lily looked at Sirius through narrow eyes, looking for a smile to pass across his lips to suggest that he was playing with her. He finally passed her test and she answered.

"Someone sweet and romantic. James' isn't either of those. He's arrogant and thinks romance is flower that's cursed or something like that. He has to be caring and make me laugh. He'll know whenever I'm upset without me even telling him so, and he'll know exactly how to comfort me. He won't pressure me to do things I don't want to do. He'll know what's right and what's not," Lily answered, smiling as her eyes misted over.

"Wow, that's high expectations right there," Sirius replied, smiling at Lily.

"Not really," Lily shrugged her shoulders. "There's a guy like that out there, I just have to find him."

"And you're positive you will?"

"I know I will. When the time's right, I'll find my Prince Charming."

A/N: I hate the way I portray Stephanie and Emily. They're so Mary-Sueish. I'll work on it, trust me. Tell me what you thought otherwise.