A/N : My goodness, dialogues are hard to write! And writing this last chapter I've realised that my story wasn't actually going anywhere. I mean, I had a point when I started it, but now I seem to have lost it. Ah well… here's the 4th and last chapter, enjoy!

Chapter Four : Un-Lily-Titled / Road to Friendship

Lily awoke with a start, wondering what had woken her up in the middle of the night.

Tap-tap! Taptaptap! That insistent tapping on the window! Not fully awake, she started making her way towards the noise. For a moment, the light of the lampposts outside was too bright for her to see anything but then she was able to make out the shape of Sirius' owl, fluttering in front of her. She opened the window but the bird did not try to get into the room. Instead it flew down towards a black shape in the driveway.

"Lily?" came Sirius' voice. "Is that you?"

"Sirius? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

"Well, I…"

"Hold on," she cut him. "I'll be down in a minute."

Grabbing a sweater, she ran down the stairs and opened the front door.

"You're wet!" she exclaimed when she got a better look of Sirius.

"Yes, it's raining…"

Ushering him inside, Lily looked at him curiously. He was wearing a big black cloak. The tip of a large suitcase was just visible in its folds. He took off his dripping-wet cloak and hung it over the banister like she told him to. The black dressing robes he was wearing underneath made the paleness of his face stand out even more. When he turned around to face her, she noticed for the first time the dark red cut on his left cheek. The skin around it was starting to take a nasty shade of blue.

"Sirius…?"

Lily did not quite know what to say. She had got his last letter only a couple of hours ago, and had figured out his presence here had to do with something that had happened during the birthday dinner. She led him to the kitchen.

"What happened?"

"Well," he started with a wry smile, "it seems my feeling was right. My mother's surprise was every bit as bad as I thought it would be. D'you want to know what it was?"

"Sure," she answered, realising she was holding her breath with anticipation.

"All went alright, well sort of anyway, until the port. My father decided to give a toast. He does it every year, and it usually involves shameless praising of our family and snide comments to me. Well this year he took this opportunity to announced to all our guests and me that I was engaged to Cornelia Parkinson..."

"You've got to be joking!"

"I wish I was! You know, arranged marriages are usually quite common amongst old wizard families. To keep the blood pure and all that, you see… Well I sort of expected it to happen to me one day, but not so soon. And not with Cornelia Parkinson – she's nine years old for crying out loud!"

"So what did you do?"

"It took me a while to realise what he had said – I don't usually listen to my father's speeches. But then everybody dispersed in the room and people started coming up to me and congratulate me on my engagement. When I asked my parents, they told we would talk about it later. I think that really pushed me over the edge. I'd just about finished to pack all my stuff when my mother came into my room. She asked me what I thought I was doing. So I said I was sick of it all and that she could start making excuses for Cornelia's mother because there was no way I was going to marry her. She told me to stop being unreasonable, in that very cold and condescending way of hers. My God, she's got such a way of looking at you…! The most infuriating thing is you can't actually do anything about it, she'll always be right, and you'll be the one who is too stupid to realise that!"

"Did she do that, on your cheek?"

"Oh that. Yeah, that was her. I think it's the one and only time in my life I actually managed to make her really mad. She'd never hit me before, you know… I guess she had realised by that point that there was nothing she could do to make me stay. I don't think she meant to cut me quite as badly, but she forgot she was holding her wand and… yeah."

He brought his fingers to his cheek and gently ran them along the cut.

"I'm really sorry to wake you up the in middle of the night. It's just that, when I left, I realised the Potters were away and all the other people I know lived too far away for me to get there tonight without magic. So here I am…" he gave a joyless chuckle.

"Hey, that's alright, don't worry about it! There's a spare bedroom you can use while you're here, I'm sure my parents won't mind!"

"Thanks, I…"

"'S alright I tell you! And you're lucky as well: Petunia's not here this week, which means a bit of peace. And you'll be able to meet Clare at last, and… come on, I'll show you your room! I'll get you something for your face."

The next morning, when she woke up, it took Lily a while to remember what had happened the night before. She had not quite gotten over the idea that Sirius had thought of coming to see her, out of all the people he knew. True, James and Peter were abroad and Remus lived far away, but still! She felt happy and, surprisingly enough, a bit relieved, just like she had when Sirius had told her that James wanted to be friends with her too. Maybe she would be able to have friends in the wizarding community after all? Maybe she would finally be able to fit in? Thinking about it, she hurried downstairs. The noise coming from the kitchen told her that her mother was already up.

"Mum?"

"Morning darling. Had a good night's sleep?"

"Mum, you know I told you about Sirius Black, the Gyffindor prefect with me next year?"

"Mmmh? What about him?"

"Well, he had a fight with his family yesterday and there's no one else he knows who lives nearby, so he came to see me last night. He's upstairs in the guestroom… he can spend a couple of days here, right?"

"Of course he can! Is he alright?"

"I… guess he is. I didn't want to ask too many questions. I mean, I don't really know him that well, so…"

"That's alright, darling. Now go and ask him if he wants some breakfast. It's a good thing Petunia isn't here. I don't know how she would have liked having a witch and a wizard at home…"

Lily climbed up the stairs once more and knocked gently on the guestroom door.

"Come in?"

Sirius was sitting on his bed, already dressed. He looked tired but his face had lost the deadly paleness it had had the night before. The bruise was still very much there but the cut did not look quite as big as earlier on.

"Morning Sirius. How are you feeling?"

"Alright, thanks."

"If you need to talk about what happened yesterday or anything…"

"Thanks, I appreciate it Lily."

"Fancy some breakfast?"

"Yes please!"

"Mum's downstairs, she said you could stay here as long as you needed to. See, I told you it would be fine!"

"Morning Sirius!" said Lily's mother when they entered the sunny kitchen. "Had a good night's sleep?"

"Good morning, Mrs Evans. Thank you for letting me stay here! James should be back at the end of the week and…"

"Don't worry about it, darling. Stay as long as you need to! Would you like some tea?"

"Yes please."

Sitting across Sirius in her own kitchen, watching him joke around with her and her parents, Lily finally felt more content than she had in years. Of course, she felt sorry for Sirius and worried about what would happen to him next, but she could not help but be happy. All the different pieces of her life were finally coming together, united in the cosy picture she had in front of her

A/N: points bonus pour Justine si elle trouve la référence au RHPS.