Chapter 9 - Sirius P.O.V.

Alrighty then. This is going to be a very interesting day.

The wedding is in two days, and trust me, no one is more nervous than Mum. She's been running around the house, tearing her hair out ever since Lily and I got home. Good thing Lily's here, otherwise I'd have to deal with a tempermental woman.

I literally shuddered at the thought.

James is arriving today, and I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about that. I still haven't completely forgiven him for what happened, but I guess I'm not as mad as I was before. And plus, he's my best mate, I can't stay mad at him forever.

It's 10 in the morning, and James is supposed to arrive at noon. Lily and Mum are in the backyard, setting up some last minute stuff for the reception. Did I mention that we were having it at our house? Huh, I guess it slipped my mind.

I, for one, am glad that Lily is helping Mum with the wedding. She just enjoys this stuff. I have no idea why. She seems to like this planning stuff more than any other girl, and trust me, Lily is one of the least girly-ish girls I have ever met.

Currently, I'm sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on an English muffin. Usually, I'm not picky about what I eat, but when I'm at home, I will only eat something Lily cooked. Mum's a decent cook, but Lily's amazing. And Drew.. he can burn water.

I finished off the last few bites, and put my dish in the sink. I would love to see the look on my father's face if he saw me now. Being a Muggle.

I glanced through the window over the kitchen sink. It had a perfect view of the backyard. Lily and Drew were holding up a white canopy, and Mum was pointing at where she wanted it. I laughed at the sight. Lils and Drew looked winded; Mum was randomly changing direction every few seconds.

I shook my head, smirking, and walked up the stairs to my bedroom. I figured I should try to clean up a little, I mean our friends were arriving in a few days, and James was arriving today. It took me about half an hour to pick up several Quidditch magazines, candy wrappers, letters from friends, and dirty clothes. When I was finished, I looked around my room proudly. It was the cleanest I had ever seen it.

I quickly looked at the clock on my bedside table. It said 10:38 AM. A little over an hour until James got here.

I decided to just rest for a while, it's been a while since I really had the chance to do so. I sat down on my bed, then just gave up, and fell back to lie on my back. That sounded stupid. I apologize profusely.

I didn't know how long I was laying there, I was too lazy to look at my clock, but after a while, I felt a weight on the edge of my bed. I blinked a few times and looked to see who or what it was. It was Lily.

Thank Merlin it was her, if it had been anyone else I might have screamed. Well, not really, but you get what I mean.

"Siri," Lily asked in a soft tone. "What's wrong? Aren't you excited? James is coming over today."

She was still oblivious to the tension between me and James. And I was glad, I didn't want her to worry.

"Yeah, Lils," I sighed, rubbing my eyes sleepily. I was only doing this to appear tired, because then maybe Lily would stop worrying. "I'm fine. Just didn't get enough sleep last night. Anyway, are you done with the wedding stuff yet?"

Lily smiled and sighed happily. "Yep, we just finished putting up the tent. Dad's going to start arranging the chairs. He said I should take a break, and after two hours of work, I was happy to oblige."

I laughed and shifted a bit towards the right end of the bed, leaving Lily some room to lie down. She rested her head on a pillow and smiled at me gratefully. I smiled back and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, my other hand was behind my head.

"Sirius," Lily said suddenly, in a a harder tone than before. It wasn't harsh, but it was serious. "What's going on between you and James? And don't even try lying."

I looked at her incredulously. How did she figure it out?

"Lils," I gasped, looking at her with disbelief. "What do you mean?"

She just narrowed her eyes. "You know what I mean. Something's going on that you're not telling me. If you don't tell me, then I'll just have to get it out of James."

I internally groaned. Of course she'll be able to.

"Lils, it's nothing, James and I just got in a little fight. Nothing major." That was a lie.

She cocked an eyebrow, obviously not believing me, but she didn't say anything. Boy, was I grateful for that. I really didn't want to tell Lily why I was mad at James.

"Alright, then," Lily said dismissively. She pecked me on the cheek and walked out of my room and into her own room, which was directly across the hallway from mine. She closed the door slowly and I could hear the soft thuds of drawers opening and closing.

I sighed and glanced at the clock, again. 11:32. Huh, I guess Lily and I were talking for longer than I thought. I stretched and then got up to change into some decent clothes. I wasn't going to be hanging around all day in flannel pajama pants.

From my closet, I dug out a pair of dark jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black long-sleeved shirt to go under it. I grabbed a pair of black sneakers and put them on. I walked across the hallway to Lily's room.

"Lils, it's 11:35. You better be changed, James' is going to be here in about twenty minutes," I called through her door. Not a moment later, she opened the door, fully dressed.

She was wearing a pair of dark skinny jeans, a white t-shirt underneath a gray hoodie, and gray converse shoes. Lily lectured me on Muggle clothing brands and all that stuff, just in case you were wondering.

"Well, you look comfy," I said grinning. She laughed and nodded. I offered her my arm and she hooked hers through mine. We walked down the stairs and into the living room. I sat down on one of the sofas and Lily plopped down next to me, resting her head on my shoulder.

Lily grabbed the TV remote off a table next to the couch and turned it on. She flipped through the channels for a minute then finally decided on a soccer game. I soon found myself genuinely interested in a sport other than Quidditch. I was surprised. I was becoming more of a Muggle than I thought. I liked it.

I glanced at the wall clock above the TV. It read 11:57. I realized that I was doing a lot of that lately. James would be here soon.

Before I knew it, green flames ignited in the fireplace next to us and James stepped out of it, looking both nervous and excited.

He glanced around the room and when his eyes landed on Lily, he smiled warmly at her and opened his arms for a hug. Lily laughed and walked into his arms, hugging him tightly. They both seemed so happy and I couldn't help but smile.

Then James turned towards me. Here comes the awkward moment.

He just stood there, not knowing what to do. I decided to spare the guy. I smiled and lifted one arm to insinuate the "manly-hug." James smiled as well and gratefully patted me on the back. I had forgiven him, but that didn't mean I was going to forget all about it.

Lily glanced out the window and grimaced. I raised an eyebrow at her painful expression. "Lils, what's wrong?" I asked.

She just frowned more and shook her head. It took her a moment to answer. "Um, I think Rose might end up killing Dad before the wedding," she replied sheepishly, still looking out the window.

James and I simultaneously turned our heads to look out the window. I laughed at the sight and James chuckled.

Mum was holding a pair of scissors while Drew had millions of ribbons draped all over him. He looked like an Egyptian mummy. Mum was obviously instructing Drew to hang ribbons in various places around the tent.

"Uh, I think I'll go help Dad before Rose murders him," Lily walked out the back door. I watched her through the window. She was pulling ribbons off her father's head while shaking her own.

"Sirius?" James said suddenly, breaking me out of my trance. "Can we talk?"

I nodded my head and gestured up the stairs. I began ascending the stairs with James following a few steps behind me. I frowned. The awkward silence between us was really starting to get to me. I couldn't stand this.

We walked into my room soundlessly. I sat on my bed, while James just stood there, looking at anything but me. I decided to make this a bit easier for the guy.

"James," I said, causing him to look at me. "I forgive you."

I laughed when I heard him sigh with relief. He smiled easily at me, now that the tension between us was gone. I patted a spot on my bed next to me and he sat down gratefully.

"Merlin, thanks, mate," he said with a chuckle. "Look, I know what happened changed some things, but-"

I cut him off. "Before you say anything, I want to know. How do you feel about Lily?"

James' smile faltered. He had expected this to happen, but he was hoping it wouldn't. I really didn't want anything to come between us, but I needed to know. Lily was going to be my sister in two days, and I wanted to know how my best mate felt about my sister.

"Pads, I really don't know. Something's changed this year, I'm sure of that, but I know it's nothing too serious," he smiled at the pun. I smirked slightly, but James could see that the playfulness wasn't in my eyes. "Sirius, I just felt something different this year. I was suddenly attracted to her. I've never felt this way about her before; I've always seen her as a sister."

I frowned. I wasn't getting straightforward answers that I wanted. "So what changed?"

"In the past years, I always knew Lily was pretty, but I was never actually attracted to her. This year, she just- wait. This seems a bit weird," James said, chuckling a bit at the end.

I was confused. "What's weird?"

The corners of James' mouth turned upwards into a small smile while he nervously laughed softly.

"I'm telling my best mate, who happens to be my crush's bro, well soon-to-be bro, what I like about her," he chuckled again, but you could tell he was nervous.

Sirius laughed a bit too, but then all traces of humor soon disappeared. His entire demeanor changed in a matter of seconds.

Sirius' expression hardened and his lips were pressed into a tight line; he somewhat resembled Professor McGonagall. "You hurt Lily, and I will kill you."

James couldn't believe it. He found himself nodding and he knew it had a frightened look on his face. If those words had come from anyone else, anyone, then he wouldn't believe them. But coming from Sirius, he knew that he wasn't lying.

Hey guys! I'm not dead! I'm sooo sorry that I haven't updated since... however long ago. My grandmother died so I had to drop everything and fly over to the Philippines. By the way, I live in the US and the flight from the east coast to the Philippines is about 20-somthing hours. I was there for two weeks and I seldom had internet access. I'm going to try to catch up but please stick with me.

Dedicated to my late grandmother.

-Julz