A/N: Here is the next chapter. I hope everyone enjoys! Let me know what you think!

There was a war taking place, both outside and inside the house of James and Lily Potter. It was almost the end of July and the first birthday of one Harry James Potter was fast approaching. However, James and Lily had not been able to have a peaceful moment together since that fateful night almost five months ago.

"OI! JAMES! LET ME IN!" Sirius screamed outside the door that refused him entry into the Potter Residence at Godric's Hollow.

"Padfoot?" Came James's questioning voice on the other side of the door. "What is the password that grants one access into the pranking world of the Marauders?"

Sighing, Sirius replied as fast as he could. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good. Now just open this damn door Prongs before I get Mad-Eye to open it for me."

"Okay, okay, okay, just give me a minute. What's the rush? We don't have another meeting until next week."

Sirius brushed past James and rushed into the sitting room. "I don't have time for that right now. Where's my pup? Bring my handsome godson in to play with me. I've missed my hairy little sprog!"

"Now I think that you have lost it completely, Padfoot. You know that Lily has placed that ban until you apologize to Snape." James reminded him while closing the door.

"But that's the best part, Prongs! Snivelly is gone! He won't ever darken our doorway or our lives again! He packed up and left! You see, I actually went over there to try and reason with old Snivelly Snape; I tried to get him to just send Lily a letter so that I could see my pup again. He didn't want an apology anymore than I wanted to give him one, you see. So I figured that he could just write a letter to Lils, and then just disappear. Well, he didn't write the letter like I wanted him too, but he did disappear! He packed up all his greasy potions and left! I was there when the wards came crashing down! I'm surprised the muggles didn't come out of their houses. Probably weren't paying attention, not that they ever do. But isn't that great! So, with no Snivelly, I don't have to worry about Lily keeping my pup from me!"

"Severus is gone?"

Lily's voice came from the bottom of the stairs. Having heard all the shouting, she had laid Harry down before coming down just in time to catch the last part of Sirius's declaration.

"Yes, Lily. Isn't that wonderful!" Sirius crowed, before trying to rush past her. "What's wrong, Lils? That greasy bat is gone. I want to see my godson."

"Get off those stairs, Sirius Orion Black."

Sirius froze. Something in Lily's voice didn't bode well for him. Turning around slowly, not even his Auror training could have prepared him for what happened next.

Lily's wand was pointed at his face, aimed right in between his eyes.

"What did you do?" Lily's voice was no more than a hiss.

"What do you mean, 'what did I do'? I thought you would be happy, Lily. Snape is gone; you don't have to worry about being his friend anymore. My little pup can come and play with his godfather, now that he's not here to break us all apart. Probably how he wanted us, anyways. Easier to pick us off one by one if we are all on the outs with each other, anyways. So, now, we don't have to worry about anything."

Lily didn't say anything, just fired off a hex with her wand. Unfortunately for Sirius, it was the same hex he and James had used on Snape in their fifth year. He found himself handing upside down by his ankle in the middle of the living room. James made a strangled sound and waved his wand to try and free his best mate. But it didn't work.

"What are you doing, Lily?!" James exclaimed, while Sirius was yelling to be put back on the ground. "Let him go!"

"Not until I learn the real reason that Severus left! He would have never left without saying goodbye to me! I'm his friend! Where did he go? What did you do to him this time? You just can't leave him alone, can you? You're more of a child than my son is, Black. Why must you hurt people, who haven't done anything to you, except defend themselves."

"Oh, come off it, Lily!" Sirius responded, yelping when the charm was cancelled abruptly and he fell headfirst into the hardwood floor.

"You, Lily Potter, have heard Snivelly more than I ever could have." Sirius stood up slowly, rubbing his head and turning to face an irate Lily. "You call yourself his friend, yet hurt him whenever you are around him. You don't even know how he feels, do you?"

"What are you going on about Black? I would never hurt Severus, especially since he gave us news of the traitor in our mists. The news that saved our lives, if you don't remember," Lily rebuked. Her glare would be enough to set fire to kindle wood.

"Oh, you would never hurt someone intentionally. I never said you were a mean or unkind person. But you have hurt him. Whether you want to face up to it or not, you have," Sirius drawled, sounding much like the pureblood he was raised as, but never became. "Every day you would trample on his greasy heart. Me and James thought it was awfully funny to see a greasy half-blood Slytherin Death Eater pining after a muggleborn Gryffindor. But he did. You were the only one to not see it. No one wanted to tell you, thinking that the smart Lily Evens had to obviously see what was in front of her nose, or was just ignoring it for not wanting to hurt the greasy gits' feelings. But you really didn't know, did you? You never put two and two together. Then, to go off and start dating his enemy, that just crushed old Snapey's spirit."

"Sirius!" James barked, watching the color draining out of Lily's face. "That's enough. Calm down."

"Oh, no. She needs to hear this! She wants to be so uppity thinking that we were the only ones who harmed the great big bat. All we did was play a few pranks. We didn't break his heart. That's right, Lily," Sirius continued, turning back to face her when he heard her gasp. "Old Slytherin Snape loved you, or that's what everyone else said. I could never see how he could ever love anything more than his stupid chemistry set. And seeing you with Prongs killed him. But he turned his sorrow into anger. And that's how Malfoy got his claws into Snivelly. Then, just think, you got married and had a baby with his enemy. His chances to woo you were never going to happen, now. He knew he would never be able to confess how he felt. Do you have any idea how you hurt him just being over his house that night? Parading your perfect family in front of the man who loved you throughout school. How horrible of you, to not even take his feeli-"

Sirius was standing one minute, on the floor the next. Lily was holding onto James at this point, clinging to him for her life. James was just looking down at Sirius, who was trying to stem the flow of blood coming out of his nose. James had punched him. His best mate had punched him!

"Get out, Sirius. Just go. I don't know how you could do this to her, reduce her to tears like this. You like to say that you're better than your family, but you have just proven how alike you actually are. I thought you were better than this, but I guess I was wrong. When are you going to grow up, Sirius? When will you stop hurting others because you don't want to deal with the hurt you feel inside?"

"Prongs, what are you saying?" Sirius asked, not believing what he was hearing.

"I'm saying that you are not welcome back into this house until you get Lily to forgive you, if she will ever forgive you. Please, Sirius, don't make this any harder than it already is. Just leave. Think about what happened here tonight, and give Lily time to get over what has happened. I love you like a brother, Sirius, but I can't help you anymore. I can't make excuses for what you did tonight. You will have to find a way to get Lily to forgive you on your own. It will be hard, and I don't know if you have the maturity to succeed."

James had placed Lily on the couch, and was walking Sirius to the front door. With a final goodbye, the door was shut in Sirius's face.

Ever since, Sirius had not been able to set foot in the Potter Household. Lily couldn't believe what Sirius had said to her. The truth was, she never did know that Severus had liked her like that. It was a cruel way to find out the main reason behind Severus leaving. He did his job as a friend and warned her about the danger. He even put his hatred for James to the side to warn Lily about the fate that awaited her family if they continued to blindly trust. And how did she repay him? She hurt him even more; bringing her family to his house; making him hold the proof of her and James's love for each other.

'How could I be so stupid?' Lily thought to herself. Deep down, Lily now harbored the fear that Severus turned to the Death Eaters, not just because of what the boys did to him, but because she, herself, hurt him deeply.

While Lily was beating herself up, James was missing Sirius. While he stood by what he said that night, and was upset at the way Sirius treated Lily, he still missed his best mate. He knew that Sirius had tried apologizing; seeing all the letters in the garbage was a dead giveaway. It made him angry that there was nothing that he could do to fix this. This was between Sirius and Lily and no one else could make it any better. But it didn't stop him from trying.

"Hey, Lils," James started when he sat down at the table after kissing his son and wife. "I see that Sirius wrote you a letter this morning. Are you going to read it?"

"I will if I want to, James, so please stop asking me," Lily replied, exasperated. "I don't know if I want to give that mangy mutt the time of day."

"Lily, please. He is sorry. I agree that what he said to you and how he said it was out of line, but he wants to make it better. Give him a chance."

"Like he gave Severus a chance?!" Lily snarled back.

Harry, who was sitting up in his highchair, was looking back and forth between his mother and father, oddly quiet. He somehow knew that something was wrong, and wanted to make his mum and dad smile.

"Mama, Dada!"

When he had their attention, he smiled and waved. They sighed and turned back to each other, talking in heated tones.

Harry didn't like being ignored. "Mama! Dada!" When that failed to get their attention, he starting trying to be louder. "Mama! Dada! 'Ook! 'Arry!" When that still didn't work, Harry did something truly amazing.

A crack was heard throughout the house, and made Lily and James jump. On the table in between his mother and father, sat Harry James Potter, giggling and clapping his hands. The young baby was oblivious to performing his first act of accidental magic.

"Lily," James whispered, all thoughts of Sirius forgotten.

"I saw it too, James. Tell me I wasn't dreaming," the red headed witch replied, just as softly.

"Unless I was having the same dream, I doubt it, love."

Harry was still giggling and clapping his hands. "Mama! Dada!" Looking over his parents' shoulders, the little boy started squealing very loudly.

"Mooy! Pafoo! Mooy, Pafoo!"

Remus and Sirius stepped softly into the kitchen.

"Hey there pup, what are you doing sitting on the table?" Remus said, smiling at the toddler, who was still waving at Sirius.

"My son just apparated from his high chair to the table in between Lily and I," James replied, still in shock over the whole thing.

"My sprog apparated and I wasn't here to see it?" Sirius asked, scooping up Harry and tossing him into the air, much to the child's delight.

"What are you doing here, Black?" Lily's cold voice stopped the next toss dead in its tracks.

"Please, Lily, you weren't answering my letters. I just wanted to talk to you. To apologize for what I said. Please listen to me?" Sirius begged.

"Why should I?" was the cold response.

"Because I am sorry for hurting you. I didn't want to hurt you. I was just mad that you were still defending Snape over me and I just lost it." Sirius bowed his head, waiting to see what Lily's response would be.

"Because Severus doesn't have anyone else to defend him. I have to defend him against not just you, but my husband as well! The only one who doesn't put down poor Severus is poor Remus, and that's probably because he still feels guilty for almost killing him. Guilt you, Black, should be carrying on your shoulders, since it was your idiotic 'prank' to begin with!"

"I know," was Sirius's soft reply. "I just want my friends and family back. I feel so torn up over this, like my life isn't whole. I have no one else to turn too."

Remus had his head bowed, the guilt of what he had almost done coming back full force. It never quite left, but he tried to push it aside as much as possible. He felt Sirius's hand on his shoulder, and felt the other man's reassurance in the small squeeze.

"Well, I'm glad you feel like that, because that is how Severus feels all the time. He doesn't have anyone else to turn to. You lost me my first and best friend, Black. And while I will accept some of the blame for being so short sighted, I will not forgive you for that. You have gone too far, once again, and I don't believe that you deserve forgiveness for it."

"Lily, look at Harry. Look how happy he is to be back in his godfather's arms," James said. Harry was staring up and babbling incoherently to his godfather, who's smile would light up the room when he laid his eyes on his godson.

"Please, Lily, I can see what a prick I was in school, and I am sorry. I did try to write a letter to Snape, but the owl wouldn't accept it. I even brought it with me to prove to you that I'm not lying."

Holding out a wrinkled piece of parchment, Sirius gave Lily the letter addressed to Severus Snape. Wasting no time, Lily walked over to James's owl who was sitting on his perch next to the fireplace.

The owl opened his eyes, looked at the letter in Lily's hand, and gave a hoot.

"Would you mind delivering this for me please?"

Ruffling his feathers, the owl turned his back towards Lily and closed his eyes once again.

Lily sighed, and turned back to James with tears in her eyes.

"I've lost him," she whispered to herself, the tears falling. James came over and wrapped his wife in a hug, holding her while she cried. She let the guilt of treating Severus so horribly wash over here while she sobbed into James's chest.

"It's my entire fault. He's really gone. I've lost my first friend. He won't ever know how sorry I am for what I did to him."

Everyone, even Harry, was silent as Lily grieved for the loss of her friend. Once she stopped, Lily turned her puffy red eyes onto Sirius.

"Black, I stand by what I said. I will not forgive you. You may come and see your godson, but do not expect the friendship we had to ever be repaired. James is your best mate, and that's fine. Just don't expect that from me. Our friendship will be over unless I ever hear Severus say that he forgives you. Considering that I cannot even send post to him, I consider that unlikely. If you ever want my forgiveness, you better get Severus's first.

With that, Lily Potter walked upstairs to her room and locked the door. She cried. She cried for the friendship she lost and the friendship she would never regain.

A/N: How was it? I know it was a bit morbid, but everyone has dark times. What is Severus up too? What about Dumbledore? Let me know what you think!