Chapter 7: In The Common Room

Going back to being friends with James would be... interesting, to say the least. I knew it wouldn't be easy – not in the slightest – especially seeing as I was avoiding his best friend and couldn't stand, in his words, his "future wife", Lily Evans.

James and Evans had this painfully obvious thing for each other. He was very much aware of this, and never let her forget it. She, on the other hand, acted as if she would like nothing more than to obliviate herself of this knowledge. Yet unfortunately for her, everyone (other than James and herself) could see it for exactly what it was: an act. She was so clearly in love with him – it's not even funny. And with every rejection and occasional hex, she was weakening – she'd admit how she felt by the end of the year.

My nearly ancient dislike for her actually began in jealousy – even from first year, James devoted all his time and energy into (unsuccessfully) trying to make a girl who he barely knew, his. Lily. All the while, not even recognizing the existence of a girl he'd known for almost his entire life. Me.

After a while, I got over it – I couldn't honestly expect him to recognize me after all this time, could I? But how I felt about Evans continued to intensify – her idiotic need to constantly put down everyone less intelligent than her, the way she had to control absolutely everything, the fact that she really couldn't get over herself... all led up to one thing which I absolutely despised about her: her continuous rejection of James. Wasn't it enough that the poor boy put himself out there, basically humiliating himself almost every day? No, she just had to shoot him down, time after time, didn't she?

Moving on from my mental rant, I entered the common room. Relaxing in one of the sofas, I enjoyed the rare quiet and comfort. It appeared that all the sixth years took History of Magic for some inexplicable reason. Professor Binns, the current History of Magic teacher was unbelievably old. Students were even placing bets on when he would kick the bucket – in fact, at the last Order meeting I'd gone to, I'd been shocked to catch Professor Dumbledore attempting to turn bookkeeper, quoting odds to my uncle and Professor McGonagall!

As the natural self-cooling conditions of the Common Room set in, I reluctantly decided to think a bit more about my real problem – Sirius Black.

When Sirius had forced James to come and apologize to me – could he have been any more obvious? - I recognized the side of him that I'd seen when I'd gone through his memories. Not many people got to see him like that – in fact, I highly doubted anyone other than Remus and James were treated that way frequently. And the fact that he clearly cared about me... well, I wasn't sure what to make of it.

Yes, he was obviously dying to figure me out. But aside from that, he felt protective of me, despite the fact that he'd only seen me... what, four times?

And there was something so honest about that that made me smile.

"There's something I don't see often." Sirius. Of course.

"Don't really have that much to smile about," I said quietly, turning around. His gray eyes gazed into mine and I smiled softly.

"And there it is again." He moved my legs off the sofa, seated himself down, then pulled my legs back up, onto his lap. The strangeness of the situation, along with the strange comfort I felt, only served to remind me what I'd needed to really say to him.

"Sirius, why do you want to be friends with me?" I asked, knowing only all too well the reason. He looked at me thoughtfully, his dark hair falling slightly on his eyes. Involuntarily, I pushed it away. Grinning slightly, he shrugged.

"To be honest... I don't really know myself."

I sighed. "No, you do. It's because of what I said last night."

He chuckled. "Partially, yes. But the main reason... I don't know."

I nodded, thinking to myself. I took a deep breath. As much as I didn't want to say this... I knew it was the best option for me. "Okay, so this is how it works. We act like everything is fine, and that we barely know each other. Which is absolutely true – we don't. You and I hang out while we're around James. Casually. When James isn't around, you and I don't see each other. In classes, maybe, but out of them... wait a second, don't you have History of Magic?"

Sirius had been frowning throughout my statement. "I'm not an idiot, why would I take that subject? And that's ridiculous, Skylar – I want to be friends with you. What's so wrong with that?"

I groaned. "What's so wrong with that? Sirius, there's a reason I don't have friends – don't you remember anything that I said last night?"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah. You have a power which doesn't let you get close to anyone."

I winced. I'd never been that blunt about it. "Uh... yeah, that about covers it."

"So? What's the worst thing that could happen?"

Well... I could fall for you, but never be able to actually be with you because I might end up knowing more about you than is good for any of us?

"You would never let it go... What I may or may not be would always be there, in the back of your mind. How could we be friends, with you knowing I was hiding something?"

"So it's okay if you're good friends with James, but it's not if you're good friends with me?" Hurt laced his words, and I did not want to have to do this to him.

"Please, Sirius? For me?" Puppy dog eyes.

Sigh. "Fine, Sky." Works every time. "But you will tell me eventually, or I'll find out eventually, and when that happens, I will get to know you. And until then, and even after, I'll be there for you, the best that I can."

The way he said that made me want to tell him, right then and there.

But I couldn't. Not for me, but for him. How would he deal with the fact that I knew so much more about him than he could've ever imagined?

As/N: Ok, ok. I'm aware that there are two instances in this story where Sky could've seen Sirius's memories.

First: When he pulls her legs onto his lap. a) she's wearing jeans and b) it has to be skin to skin contact.

Second: When she brushes his hair out of his eyes. a) She's very careful not to touch skin and b) it's only hair.

Next Chapter up in a flash!