Chapter 7

It had been a few weeks since Sirius and Lily had had their serious conversation. Ever since, Sirius had been much more congenial and occasionally even openly nice to Lily – so much so that even James had noticed.

"Oi, Padfoot," James began one Saturday morning as he began preparing to go out to the Quidditch pitch for practice.

It was true that there was a Hogsmeade weekend today but there was only one game against Slytherin left and, although Gryffindor was currently ahead in points towards the Quidditch Cup, if they lost too terribly to their biggest rival in the upcoming game, they would surely lose both the Quidditch and the House Cup. As it was his Seventh Year and Ravenclaw had won the House Cup previous year and Slytherin the year before that, James could not stand losing both Cups.

At the current moment, Sirius was still lolling about in his bed, but with the curtains open. He was, as he liked to say, still convincing himself to get out of bed.

"What can I do you for?" the shaggy haired boy yawned lazily, rolling over and facing his friend so that his head was almost hanging off the bed.

"Well, I couldn't help but notice," James began tentatively, "that you've been much nicer to Lily lately."

If Sirius was surprised, he didn't show it. "What's your point, mate?"

"Just curious as to why, I s'pose," James shrugged.

It was Sirius' turn to shrug, although that proved somewhat difficult seeing as he was still lying in bed with one arm sprawled above his head, the other hanging over the edge of the bed, and his legs contorted and bent in such an odd way that James wondered if he was secretly double-jointed.

"Dunno, mate… guess she's just growing on me?" He offered weakly.

James didn't quite believe Sirius but thankfully left the topic alone. "So… what're you up to today while I'm slaving away on the Quidditch pitch? Going to Hogsmeade?"

"Yeah… I actually have a date."

James, who was lacing up his shinguards, looked up in surprise. "Really? Anyone I know?"

Sirius sat up in bed, scratching his arm as he looked at the floor.

"You okay?" James asked, straightening as he stood up and looked at his friend, who just nodded and looked up as, over in the far corner of the room, they heard Peter snort in his sleep and his sheets rustle as he turned over. Remus himself was also still sleeping, but he was a much quieter sleeper. When James had first befriended him, he had expected him to be the kind of person who got up at the crack of dawn, even on Saturdays, but he had been pleasantly surprised to learn that Remus allowed himself to sleep in on this one day of the week. In fact, Remus could sleep even longer than Peter and frequently didn't get up until close till two in the afternoon.

"It's Marlene," Sirius said simply.

"Well, that's good. Isn't it?"

Sirius shrugged, blushing slightly. "I really like her, mate. It's weird, never thought she'd agree to go out with me."

It was odd to see him like this, so quiet and serious. James, having been Sirius' best friend for almost seven years now, of course knew about his mate's serious side. Still, it didn't come out very often and never before because of a girl. James couldn't help but wonder if this is what he seemed like to his friends when he was obsessing over Lily.

"Well, she did, obviously. When'd you ask her?" he questioned, trying to lighten the mood.

At this, he got a bark of laugh and a bright smile out of Sirius, who finally looked him in the eye. "That's the great thing. She asked me out. Just a few days ago, right before Divination. Just came right up to me and said, 'Wanna go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?' I said sure and that was that. We agreed to meet at 11."

James grinned right back. "Nice. Gotta love a girl who takes initiative."

Sirius stood up and stretched. "I'm a bit nervous, though. What if things don't work out today?"

"Look, Padfoot, I'm sure it'll all work out. Don't sweat it. If you two are meant to be together, it'll happen. If not, don't dwell on it."

At these words, Sirius gave James a meaningful glance.

"I could say the same to you about Lily, y'know," he commented quietly.

As he grabbed his broom and headed for the door, James nodded slowly. "I know. And I've realized that. So… if that means just being friends with her, then that's what I'm going to do, even if it hurts."

With that, James headed out the door and to the Quidditch Pitch, where his team was already assembled and waiting for him.

Sirius sighed as he pulled off his pajamas and got dressed in what he hoped was acceptable attire for a first date. Heading to the Great Hall, he shoveled in breakfast before meeting Marlene and catching a carriage to Hogsmeade.

As the couple settled into their seats for the short journey, they turned to one another and just as Marlene began to ask "What should we do once we get there?" Sirius said, "So how've you been?"

Giggling, Marlene smiled and looked out the window before turning back to her date. "You first."

"Err," Sirius chuckled, feeling slightly nervous. He was never nervous but this girl… she unnerved him and he couldn't figure out why. Which only made him more unnerved. "How are you?"

"I'm good," she laughed, "and yourself?"

"Good, good," he mumbled. Where was his suaveness? Why couldn't he act cool? For the love of Merlin, why was this girl turning him into a pile of uncontrollable mush?

"That's good," Marlene said as she wrapped her arm around his.

The remaining few moments in the carriage were silent but it was amicable and comfortable. As Sirius relaxed, he became more confident and by the time they stepped out of the carriage and into the crunchy snow, he felt much better.

"Shall we get a butterbeer, madam?" He asked graciously, grinning and holding out his arm.

"That sounds delightful, sir," Marlene smiled back, playing along and threaded her arm through his.

"I love snow," she commented as they made their way towards The Three Broomsticks.

Sirius wrinkled his nose. "It's alright. Not my favourite weather."

"Oh?" Marlene's eyes twinkled as Sirius held the door to the tavern open for her. As they settled into a table, she asked, "What is then?"

"What is what?"

"Your favourite weather."

"Hmm. Nobody's ever asked me that before. I'd probably have to say sunny. But with a breeze. Not a big fan of walking through snow or rain and having my trousers soaked all day."

Marlene smiled and nodded. "As already mentioned, I like the snow. Now would you like to get the butterbeers or shall I?"

Standing up, Sirius grinned and walked over to the bar where he ordered two butterbeers from the busty Madam Rosmerta and promptly brought them back to the table.

"Thanks so much," Marlene said, taking a sip.

"Now," she began, "the reason why we're here…"

Sirius' stomach clenched and his heart seemed to stop as her tone became business-like and she continued, "…we need to talk about Lily and James. They need to get together."

He simply blinked at her. Her smile faltering, she asked, "What? You think they shouldn't be together?"

Swallowing and blinking, he shook his head. "No, that's not it. I'll admit that I've only recently warmed up to Lily but I think James deserves a chance with her. He's been after her for so long, after all. I just wasn't…err…expecting you to say that…so bluntly," he finished lamely, not knowing what else to say.

Marlene didn't seem to notice him stumbling over the last few words and nodded.

"Good, I'm glad we're on the same page," she said, "So how's this going to happen?"

Regaining his senses and trying to focus on his best mate and his love interest, Sirius offered a weak chuckle and said, "We could lock 'em in a broom cupboard till they start snogging each other madly?"

They continued talking for a long time, Marlene not once seeming to notice that Sirius' heart wasn't really in it. Finally, after many weak ideas and a few drinks, they decided that they really hadn't any idea of how to go about setting up Lily and James without royally pissing off at least one of them, if not both.

"Let's head back, shall we?" Sirius asked as the clock struck one pm.

"Sounds good. Listen, Sirius," Marlene began, but he refused to get his hopes up, "thanks for the drinks, I had a nice time," unfortunately his hopes were out of his control and began to fly at this point, "and I'm glad we're friends, you're a nice bloke."

Although he knew that, in all likelihood, he could get over this rejection – rejection that Marlene didn't realize she was giving – with the right dosage of moping and Firewhisky, part of Sirius truly felt crushed.

The walk back to Hogwarts was a quiet one, Sirius mulling over the apparent miscommunication between him and Marlene. As they arrived back at the castle, he said goodbye and wandered back up to Gryffindor tower and his dormitory, while Marlene claimed that she had to go meet Dorcas in the library for some reason or another. He wasn't paying much attention at that point. Luckily, the walk back had taken enough time that James should arrive back at the room relatively shortly. Sirius was in the mood to mope and pity himself and knew that, even though the pity party may annoy James, he would still listen.

Sirius had only been lying on his bed for what seemed like a few moments before he turned to his clock and saw that it was already two pm. At some point while he was in Hogsmeade, both Remus and Peter had gotten up and left the room. He had passed Remus studying in the Common Room on his way up but the sandy haired boy had not seen him; Peter was presumably somewhere in the castle, gorging himself on candy.

A few minutes past two, a very sweaty and dirty James Potter came shuffling into the room.

"Hey, mate," he said as he spotted his friend lying on the bed, "how was the date?"

"It wasn't a date," Sirius groaned, covering his eyes with his hands.

"What d'you mean?" James asked as he began stripping and throwing his practice gear haphazardly around the room.

"Apparently we had a miscommunication. She only wanted to go to Hogsmeade and talk about you and Lily and how you two are meant to be together and all this other shit that, no offense mate, but, I don't really care about it."

James nodded, sitting tiredly on his bed and looking at his friend, listening as he ranted for the next twenty minutes about how Marlene had led him on and she hadn't meant to so he couldn't really be angry at her but at the same time he was upset and and and.

"Look, mate, I'm really sorry," James offered.

Sirius sighed and, for the second time that day, lazily rolled himself out of bed. "It's not your fault, Prongs, and I'll probably get over it soon enough. Just kinda sucks."

Sirius left the room as James finished getting dressed. As he buttoned up his shirt, he too left and clomped down the stairs to the Common Room, where Sirius had joined Remus and Peter, who had at some point returned with a bag of lemon drops.

However, instead of joining his friends, James peered around the room before he spotted a petite, brown-haired girl sitting on a plush red armchair and reading over her Charms notes.

"Dorcas," he called as he neared her.

"Oh, hello, uh, James," she murmured as she tore her attention away from the notes. "Lily's not here, she's-,"

"Actually," he interrupted, straightening his round glasses, "I was looking for Marlene."

"Oh," Dorcas blinked, "she's in the library working on the Potions assignment."

James thanked her and, before she could ask any questions, walked away and ducked through the portrait hole, making his way towards the library. During his rant, Sirius had told him about the plans he and Marlene had thought up. While James certainly appreciated that he wasn't the only one who thought that he and Lily should be together, he had accepted that she herself didn't think so and really didn't want anyone trying to force them together. That, he knew, could only end in disaster and anger.

He stalked quietly through the library, searching through the stacks and glancing at every table, searching for Marlene. Finally, he found her, in a secluded corner, diligently scribbling on a piece of parchment.

"Marlene," he said quietly, so as not to disturb anyone else working around them.

She looked up in surprise, startled out of her concentration. "James," she greeted him.

"Sirius told me about your Hogsmeade trip earlier."

She pursed her lips and set down her quill, setting her elbows on the table and knitting her fingers together. She nodded towards the chair in front of her, gesturing for him to sit. A little nervous at the stern look on her face, James sat down tentatively and raked his hand through his dark and already messy hair. It was a nervous tick.

"What exactly did he tell you?" she asked quietly.

"I don't want to get anyone in trouble. I only came to ask you to stop. I appreciate that you care enough about my relationship with Lily to try to make it work but…" he searched for the right words to make her understand and leaned forward on the table, closer to her. "Lily obviously doesn't have romantic feelings towards me and I've accepted that. If you try to force me on her, she's just going to be angry. At all of us. Our friendship will be ruined and we'll be back to not talking. I know I can't get her to be my girlfriend so at least let us be friends, yeah?"

James stood up and, with one last look at Marlene, whose brain was racing, turned and left the library.

Well, Marlene thought, this is a predicament. After years of James chasing her and her adamantly refusing him, Lily was finally falling for James. After years of not giving up, James was finally letting her go. Those two, she thought, had the worst possible timing in the world. And, she had to admit, James was spot on. If she egged Lily on too much, it would only annoy the redhead to the point that she would never go out with James.

There really was nothing to do but wait and hope that the densest witch and the most discouraged wizard ever would just succumb to their feelings and snog each other senseless.


You guys are wonderful :) Thanks for reviewing! More virtual hugs for everyone. Keep sending the love and I'll keep sending the story. Haha, sorta kidding :P I'll keep writing no matter what, but reviews definitely spur me on.

Thankfully, I'm done with exams and classes for a few weeks! It's so wonderful. I'll try to write more in the next few weeks because you all are so sweet and deserve it.

There wasn't too much action in this chapter but I think next chapter should be more interesting. And don't worry your pretty little heads about Sirius, he'll be okay. I can't bring myself to be too horrible to him.

Happy Christmas to everyone, too!