"He just said that he couldn't," James said.

"That's – that's-" Lily stuttered.

"Insane? Senseless? Bullshit?" James suggested.

"Exactly!" Lily exclaimed. "He does like her! He admitted it! And he knows she feels something for him now, so why he doesn't he do anything about it?"

James shrugged and watched Lily stare out the window of the common room, positively seething. "You know, we've liked each other for a while Lily-"

Lily scoffed. "Have we? I'm fairly certain that it was mostly one sided in your direction, Potter."

"James," James muttered under his breath. He hated it when she called him Potter. He raised his voice to a normal tone. "Well, we're friends now, aren't we? We've owled each other over the holidays. We even sit in a group together at meals sometimes. You like me more then you did last year."

"I like you when you're not acting like an arrogant toerag," Lily said, avoiding the question somewhat.

"And I'm not this year! I've progressed as a person!"

"Well," Lily suddenly felt flustered. "Well, you acted like a childish git last year."

"I couldn't stay twelve forever!" James said, making a face and feeling a little indignant.

"You were fifteen last year," Lily reminded him.

"That's irrelevant," James retorted.

Lily rolled her eyes and turned away, but James could see she was also smiling.


He was just going to do it. He was going to go up to her and he was going to apologise for acting like a prat these past few weeks.

Sirius had been trying to talk to Violet privately since the night before, after his talk with James, but he couldn't find her. Not that it mattered, really. He'd seen her at breakfast, watching her out of the corner of his eye, and kept putting it off. His excuses ranged from 'she's probably too tired' or 'I don't want to spoil her morning' or 'I don't want to draw anyone's attention at lunch'. As well as that, Sirius had been dealing with glares from Lily all day. At one point, she'd even gripped him by the arm.

"You said you'd talk to her last night!" she whispered angrily into his ear.

"I know, I know! I'm going to today!" he hissed back.

And now he was standing beside the stairs to the girls dormitory waiting for her, hoping to catch her before she went down to dinner.

"Sirius?" It was Lucy. He swore internally before looking up, seeing she was with Amber. "Are you waiting for me to go to dinner with you?"

"Uh, no, actually, I was-" he caught sight of Violet quietly slipping past the two of them. "Violet!" he called.

Violet froze and slowly turned, confusion written all over her face. "Yes?" she asked uncertainly.

"I needed to talk to you about something," Sirius said.

Her eyes widened and flickered to Lucy, who was standing there stock still, staring at Sirius with something acute to panic on her face. They flickered back to Sirius and she nodded hesitantly, walking back towards him.

"Let's go, Luce," Amber said, taking Lucy's arm and leading quickly her out the portrait hole.

"Do you want to sit?" Sirius asked, indicating to the cluster of armchairs by the fire. Violet nodded in agreement and they both moved to sit down.

"Sirius, I'm really sorry I got angry at you last-" Violet began.

"No, don't. Lily told me that when you first came back you wanted to apologise to me straight away. You don't have to now," Sirius said. He swallowed his pride and continued. "I was a git. Over the holidays I was thinking about last term and ... for some stupid reason, I made a decision that led me to ignoring you. So, I'm sorry."

"Is that it?" Violet asked. "You decided to ignore me because you were angry at me when I wouldn't answer you last term?"

Sirius swallowed. Ignoring her had nothing to do with their fight last term – it had everything to do with forgetting his feelings for her. "I was never really angry at you."

"Then what was all this about?" Violet asked. It disturbed Sirius slightly that she wasn't even sounding the slightest bit mad. "You were my friend and then you weren't and I didn't know why."

"It doesn't matter," Sirius said.

"Why not? How can I fix it if you don't tell me what I did wrong?" Violet asked, hurt colouring her voice.

"It's absolutely nothing you did!" Sirius said hurriedly. A look of blatant disbelief showed on her face. "No, really! Remember what I told you that day in Honeydukes?" Violet nodded, her face twisted in confusion. "It's like that. Can we just move past this and … go back to the way things were."

"Sirius, if it's like that, then you already know I would never judge," Violet said. She looked down at her hands. "But, I mean, I guess if that's what you want…" she trailed off, locking eyes with Sirius.

Nope, Sirius thought. No way in hell is that all that I want. But he nodded.

Violet hid her thoughts behind her smile. Just being friends with Sirius when she knew now how she felt? The idea wasn't exactly appealing. But being friends with Sirius was better than not being friends with him at all. "I've missed being your friend," she told him, completely honestly.


Lucy sat at the Gryffindor table at the Great Hall, not eating. Instead she was staring at the doors, waiting for Sirius to enter, preferably without Violet.

Lucy had nothing against Violet herself – but she was afraid, deep down, that when it really came down to it, Sirius would choose Violet over her. And she hated that. She had known him longer. She had liked him for longer. She had worked up the courage to try talk to him for years. And yes, she'd only really succeeded this year (last year, if you included the time he asked to borrow a quill), but it was the thought that counted.

And now, everything she wanted with Sirius, she had. But it was being threatened by a new girl who had lived in France for half her life, who moved countries as a way to overcome the grief of her mothers recent death. And that was terrible, it was. Lucy could not imagine life without her mother. But it made Violet appealing, Lucy thought. Beautiful and tragic. Like one of those muggle fairytales Marlene had told her about.

Lucy's heart dropped as Violet walked in, followed by Sirius, who looked at her like a lost puppy whenever she grinned. I've as good as lost him, she despaired, as he sat down at the table beside her. Violet sat down next to him.


"Mate!" James burst into the dormitory after dinner. Sirius was already up there, taking off his school uniform. "I never thought I'd be so happy you were friends with someone who isn't me again."

Sirius grinned half heartedly. "I'm glad too."

James' happiness faded when he saw the half-assed nature of Sirius' grin. "Maybe you should try showing it one day."

Sirius paused, about to pull of his trousers. He turned to James and quite seriously said. "I don't think I'll be able to resist it. Her, I mean. Whenever she damn smiles …" he muttered to himself, facing his bed again.

James broke into a triumphant grin. "Good. Even better. I mean it sucks for Lucy, but if your heart's not in it, then its better just to be done with it, I say. That's why I haven't properly dated anyone for longer than a month – Lily Evans is the only girl for me. Even if she doesn't know it yet."

Sirius didn't reply.

"So when are you going to break up with Lucy then?" James asked.

"I'm not," Sirius answered shortly.

James spun around. "Why not?"

Sirius shrugged, not facing James. James did not take kindly to basically being ignored so he strode across the room, grabbed Sirius by the shoulders and forcefully made Sirius look face his way.

"Why not?" Again, there was no answer. Sirius looked down at his feet. "This may come as a shock to you, Padfoot, but I happen to be Violet's friend too and I happen to care about her feelings about as much as I care about yours." James surveyed Sirius, who wasn't looking him in the eye. "You know, maybe we're all wrong about the two of you. If you're going to be a self-obsessed wanker who apparently enjoys putting yourself through misery for the fucking fun of it, then maybe you don't deserve her in the first place!" James voice had risen to a yell.

Sirius' jaw clenched but he didn't respond.

"And you don't even defend yourself! Is it because you know I'm right and you're just dragging this on because you enjoy being the bloody centre of attention all time or someth-"

"FOR FUCK'S SAKE PRONGS - I'M SCARED, OK? CAN YOU JUST SHUT UP NOW?" Sirius exploded, ripping James' arms away from him. The two stared each other down, not even realising that as Sirius' voice had been reaching a crescendo, the dormitory door had been opened by Remus, Peter and Hugo, coming up from dinner themselves. They watched the two boys glaring daggers at each other with open mouths for a moment.

"Crap," Hugo muttered eventually, breaking the silence. "I knew avoiding that fight the yesterday was too good to be true."

"We'll just … leave you two to sort this out," Remus said, and the three of them backed out of the room, closing the door with snap behind them.

James and Sirius were still for another moment before James decided that now would be a good time to break the tension. "What do you mean you're scared? Scared of what?"

"It doesn't matter," Sirius snapped, gathering up his discarded clothes hastily.

"Well clearly it does because it's preventing you from doing things!" James replied loudly. He watched Sirius for a moment before deciding to try a different approach. "Sirius, I'm your best mate. If you can't tell me, who can you tell?"

Sirius hesitated in his movements. "She just gets under my skin," he murmured finally. "And right into my head – and not in that irritating way. She knows exactly what to say to get me to open up and I'm afraid if I open up too much, she'll decide I'm not worth the effort and leave me."

James stood stock still for a moment, shocked that Sirius had finally given up and talked. He took a second to process what Sirius said. "I really don't think that will happen," James said, walking to sit on the bed, beside where Sirius stood. "And besides, you open up to me. You're doing it right now. How's that any different?" Sirius gave him a look. "Apart from the obvious difference in genitals," James rolled his eyes. "But I could walk away and leave you to your problems any day. What makes her so different?"

"It's just different. A different kind of lo-friendship," Sirius stuttered. James eyes widened. Sirius, knowing he'd been caught, began to speak as if his words were a waterfall. "How do you do it - live with Lily rejecting you every single day? How can you make yourself vulnerable like that?"

James, taken aback at the direction the conversation had gone, answered slowly, "It's worth it. Worth getting rejected all the time for the chance that one day she might say yes." He paused. "Even though I have been a bit immature about asking her out. I can see why she's never taken me seriously."

Sirius thought upon James' answer; the part was relevant to him. The end result was worth taking a chance. Now that the answer was laid out in the open for all to see, he was wondering how he missed it. But there was still the matter of his family.

"But it's not just that is it?" James asked, seeing his face. "There's more."

Sirius swallowed. "My family," he said hoarsely. "They're so closely associated with the Death Eaters. You know Regulus has been hanging out with Lucius and Bellatrix more and more and there is no way in the world that they aren't involved with You-Know-Who somehow. If Violet and I … if we … it would put her in their line of sight. What if they targeted her to get to me?"

"Violet's a big girl," James said. "She can make her own choices."

"But does she even understand - "

"Sirius, she understands! She knows about your folks. And besides, right now, we're at Hogwarts; Dumbledore is here and she's always surrounded by friends. And she's a pretty competent dueller, if her mock duelling Mulciber in Defence Against the Dark Arts the other day was anything to go by," James snickered and even Sirius allowed himself a smile at the memory. "If Violet was afraid to be around you because of your family, she would've left you alone by now."

It was a though James held all the answers to life mysteries, because Sirius suddenly felt as if a weight was lifted from his shoulders.

"Ok," Sirius said. "Ok. I feel a lot better now."

"Good," James slapped him on the back. "Now put a shirt on, will you?"


Violet stared at the headline of the Daily Prophet.

'MUGGLE FAMILY KILLED BY DEATH EATERS'.

"It's horrible, isn't it," said Lily, as she sat down for breakfast. "They're becoming more and more open about the things they do."

"No," Violet said. "The Prophet is just beginning to report them truthfully now. Stuff like this has been going on for the past couple years. Most of it was just covered up by the Ministry or hasn't been made a big deal of." Lily stared at her wide eyed and Violet realised her mistake. "That's just what I've heard anyway. Did you know that a muggle saw it?" she asked, quickly changing the subject.

"The family being killed?" Lily asked.

"Yes. Look." She showed her the paragraph.

A muggle greengrocer (whose name is not being printed for his protection) witnessed the horrific deaths of the family at the hands of three masked Death Eaters. He stayed safe and hidden between a brick wall and some overgrown shrubbery. When Aurors and Ministry officials arrived on the scene, babbled to them about flashes of green light – indicating the Killing Curse. The man subsequently had his mind erased but not before asking a chilling question; "If we can be killed like that, then what chance do we have?" As such, the Ministry is asking all magical folk to place what protections spells they can…

"It's a good idea to place protection spells on muggle houses," Lily said, after quietly reading the rest of the article. "I wish I could go home and do it myself for my Mum and Petunia."

"I'm sure if you ask Dumbledore, he could arrange something," Violet told her, looking at the Headmaster, seated at the table and engaged in a conversation with Professor McGonagall.

"Have you seen the – oh you have," Remus said, sitting down with Peter, Sirius and James, catching sight of the Prophet in front of them.

"More importantly, have you seen Lucius Malfoy?" James sneered. The six of them glanced over at the Slytherin table, most of whom looked perfectly content, even happy, in contrast the majority of students in the other houses. Lucius Malfoy, specifically, looked particularly smug.

Lily took the opportunity to find Severus at the table, and felt her heart drop when he, too, looked unperturbed. He looked over directly at her, his dark eyes piercing. She swallowed and looked back down at her breakfast, her appetite gone.

At this point, Marlene came dashing into the hall. "Have you seen the article my mother wrote?" she asked breathlessly, her eyes wide. Her eyes fell onto the newspaper headline in Violet's hands. "That's it there."

"Your mother wrote this?" Lily asked, grateful for the distraction.

Marlene nodded. "Look at the byline." Everyone did and surely enough, Althea Kane was credited with writing the article. "My sisters -" Marlene had two sisters in third year, Katherine and Rhiannon "- and I were owled a copy just then. And it had a letter from Dad saying to watch our backs from now on, just in case … well, you know." Her eyes darted to the Slytherin table.

Sirius turned back around to see Violet tracing the words 'Death Eaters', an anxious look on her face. "Are you alright?" he asked, leaning across the table to speak softly to her.

"I'm fine," she answered, a small tense smile on her face. "I'm just worried about dad, that's all. He hasn't been all that … together ... since mum and I just hope he remembers to put up protective enchantments." Even as she said the word 'mum', she remembered the fight she had with Sirius the day she left before the holidays, and she could see that he remembered it too.

"It's ok, you don't have to tell me about her," Sirius said hurriedly.

"No! No, I …" Violet breathed deeply. "I want too," she told him honestly. "But it's not an easy thing to talk about. And now probably isn't the best time." She said, glancing back down at the newspaper again.

"Right, of course," Sirius said. "We've got time though. We have a free together right before dinner so we-"

"Morning!" Lucy chirped, sitting down beside Sirius and kissing him on the cheek, oblivious to the general atmosphere of the Hall.

Amber followed her, taking a seat next to Violet. She caught sight of the newspaper. "Is this todays?" she asked incredulously, almost snatching it from Violet. "Wow. Things are really getting serious now."

"Vi said these things have been happening for a while, the Prophet just hasn't reported them correctly," Lily said.

Everyone looked at her. "Well, it's true," Violet said defensively. "Ask anyone high up at the Ministry or the Prophet. They haven't wanted to cause a panic."

"Then why would they start now?" Lucy asked doubtfully.

Violet shrugged. "Maybe they just can't ignore it anymore."

"And how would you know that?" Lucy asked harshly.

Everyone was looking at Lucy now. "Luce … are you feeling ok?" Sirius asked, placing a hand on her back. "You're being kind of snappy."

"Am I?" Lucy sounded genuinely surprised. "I'm sorry. I'm just worried. I don't want any of this to be true." She leaned into Sirius, who immediately put his arm around her and rested his chin on the top of her head. He locked eyes with James, who was raising his eyebrows as Violet focused intently on the newspaper again.


Lucy knew there was something going on the second she walked into the Great Hall and saw Sirius leaning across the table, talking closely with Violet.

They were friends again now and that meant Sirius would be drawn to Violet more and more and Lucy knew that if she didn't keep an eye on them, something could – and probably would – happen between them that would ruin it with her and Sirius.

She watched them in the classes they shared all day. Sirius didn't ignore her but his attention was divided between her and Violet and the Marauders. As a result, he wasn't nearly as affectionate with her as he used to be. Twice she waited for Sirius to walk together from one class to the other but he'd already begun walking away with Violet. They were trivial things, but they culminated to reduce Lucy to an anxious, frustrated wreck by lunch time. Lucy knew that the next class they had was Divination – and it was only the two of them out of all the Gryffindors. There was nothing she could do about that. But the lesson after was when they had a free class together and Lucy had a good idea of where they would go. "Amber," she whispered, turning to her. "I need you to cover for me in Arithmancy. Say I have a bad headache or something. "

Amber frowned. "Why?" Lucy indicated to Sirius and Violet, who were laughingly trying to get James to eat his peas. "Because of Sirius and Violet? Why? What are going to-" It suddenly clicked in Amber's mind that both Violet and Sirius had their free when they had Arithmancy. "Luce, don't you think that's going a bit far?" she asked, alarmed.

Lucy shook her head vigorously. "I have to make sure nothing happens," she insisted, before turning back to her plate, oblivious to Amber watching her with concern.


"I swear that man is slipping more and more everyday," Sirius muttered to Violet as they left the divination classroom and headed out to the tree they liked to sit under. Professor Thenaider had insisted that Sirius would be trapped in a cage of despair for many years because of a betrayal a dear friend would one day make. Sirius had rolled his eyes and nodded, pretending to listen closely, before politely asking if he could get back to his tea leaves, as Violet tried to suppress her own laughter.

"You never know," Violet said. "A dear friend might actually betray you."

Sirius snorted. "It was the vaguest prediction I've ever heard and we're in a class with Naveen Patil."

"At least it wasn't nearly as tragic as the usual predictions," Violet reasoned, as they reached the tree, and sat down against the trunk.

"I think I prefer them," Sirius replied, stretching out and relaxing against the tree, staring out at the lake. They fell into silence and Sirius desperately wanted bring up Violet's mother, but was afraid too. They had only just become friends again.

After another moment, Violet spoke up. "Are you going to ask or not?"

"What?" Sirius nearly yelped.

"You know what," Violet nearly laughed at him. She drew her knees in close to her. "About my mum."

"Oh, right," Sirius said airily. "Yeah, that."

Violet rolled her eyes. "You're a terrible liar." She sat up straight and faced him. "What I tell you … can you keep it quiet? Just until I'm ready to tell other people."

Sirius nodded. "I won't tell a soul."

And Violet knew he wouldn't. "Well, first of all, she's not actually dead," Violet began. "Just missing. She left us, you see."

Sirius frowned. "Why would she do that?"

Violet swallowed and made an effort to sound casual. "Well, she killed my grandparents."


Aaaaannnnddd I think I'll leave it there for now ;)

Guys, thank you all so much for the favourites and the follows and the reviews - I absolutely love reading them and I love that people actually like this! And I'm going to try and work in a little bit of what people want to see happen but ultimately, I've already got the plot made up in my head right until the very end, so what some people really want to see might be a bit difficult. I promise to try hard to fit some things in though!

Until my next chapter (probably within the next week; we'll see how my schoolwork goes)!