Disclaimer: Of course, I don't own anything that appears in Harry Potter.

A/N: So… this is the last chapter I wrote while in Florida. At first, it was incredibly long and since I didn't want to delete anything, I decided to make it into a bit of a cliffhanger:) Haha. I've written Chapter Thirteen already so I will post that in a few days though, so don't worry! Anyways, I hope you guys like this chapter! And many thanks to Suddy, james-s2-lily, and Andrien for reviewing! I actually decided to post this chapter a few days earlier because of your reviews :)

Chapter 12

"Emily, when are you going to help me?" James said, almost whining, as he left the changing rooms at the quidditch pitch with Emily and Sirius, heading back to Gryffindor tower after a long night of practice. It was the week before the match and Emily had upped practices to everyday.

"James, will you quit whining?" Emily said, sounding exhausted.

"Yeah, Prongs," Sirius said as he shoved James. "Knock that shit off."

Emily shook her head disapprovingly at this but didn't say anything. She had been horrible to Sirius ever since he had started dating Samantha, avoiding him as best as she could. The few times she couldn't avoid him, she had treated him like the mud on the bottom of her trainers. But things had gotten much worse since that afternoon in the Three Broomsticks. She was now treating him like a complete non-entity, ignoring him whenever she had to be around him. "Besides, it's only been a couple of days," she said to James.

"Yeah, but it feels like it's been longer," James said. "What's taking you so long?"

Emily couldn't help grinning. "You're so ridiculous," she muttered. "I've been busy! It's not like I can blow off all my other responsibilities just because I said I'd help you."

"Or you think that if you keep putting it off then you'll never have to do it," James said. "Because if that's the truth then I am going to tell -"

Emily stopped walking and glared at James, enraged. "James Potter!" she yelled, cutting him off. "I swear on my mother's grave that if you say one more bloody word, I am going to rip your fucking head off!"

"Sorry," he muttered, knowing he had taken it too far. Sirius was looking at the both of them as if he thought they were both complete nutters.

Emily sighed and started walking back towards the castle again. "Look, James, if I'm really going to do this, I need to set down some rules."

"Rules?" James asked. "Why?"

"She wants to be able to completely boss you around," Sirius smirked.

Emily pretended she hadn't heard him and said, "Because I'm not going to do this if you're not being serious!"

"Ok," James said, knowing she had a point. "What are your rules?"

"You have to actually listen to me," she said, "and not blow it off. I'm not going to waste my time if you're not actually going to follow it."

"See?" Sirius said to James. "I told you she wanted to boss you around, Prongs."

"Will you shut up?" Emily said, snapping at Sirius.

Sirius opened his mouth to say something but James cut him off. He wasn't going to let their bickering stop Emily from finally giving him some good advice on Lily. "I can do that. What are the other rules?"

"Well there's only one other one," she said, looking slightly uneasy. "You have to promise you won't get mad at me for some of the things I say."

"What?" James said. He shared a confused look with Sirius and they both laughed.

"I'm being serious here, James!" Emily said. "You're like a brother to me but if you actually want me to help you then I am going to have to be completely honest with you. And some of the things that I have to say may bruise your ego and you may want to punch me but you have to promise that you won't. If you can't handle that kind of honesty then I'm not going to do it."

"Ok, I won't get mad at you," James said, still not quite understanding what she was saying. "Now, what can I do to make her like me?"

"Alright," Emily sighed. "If you want Lily Evans to like you, and I mean if you want her to actually give you a chance, you're going to have to change a couple things about yourself."

"What?" Sirius asked, feeling outraged for his best friend. "He's fine the way he is!"

"We wouldn't be having this conversation if he was fine the way he is, Black," Emily said, annoyed. She turned to James and said, "James, you're like Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde."

"Who?" James said, looking even more confused.

"There's this side of you that's caring, brave, smart, and loyal to a fault," Emily said, trying to explain what she meant properly. "But there's this other side that's arrogant, conceited, and immature. And for some reason, that's the only side you've shown to Lily since you were thirteen."

"Oh," James said, still confused but also feeling hurt now. "So I'm insane and have split personalities and that's why Lily hates me?"

"No," Emily said, getting frustrated now. "She doesn't hate you."

"She doesn't?" Sirius asked, surprised.

"No, Sirius!" Emily snapped. "If she hated him, James wouldn't be able to get under her skin like he does."

"Ok," James said, starting to feel annoyed now. "We've been talking about this for ten minutes now and all you've told me is that I'm an asshole. Do you think you could say something that would be a little bit helpful now?"

Emily thought for a minute and then said, "Alright, the first thing you need to do is leave Lily alone!"

Sirius snorted at this and said, "Leaving her alone isn't going to –"

Emily interrupted him by saying, "Black, if James had wanted your advice he would have blackmailed you into giving it to him."

"She has a point, Padfoot," James snickered. Sirius looked very annoyed at this but didn't say another word.

"Like I was saying," Emily said, glaring at Sirius, "leave Lily alone. Stop annoying her, stop pranking her, and, most importantly, stop asking her out. Actually, maybe you just stop talking to her at all."

"I don't understand. I should ignore her completely?" James asked.

"Well, not completely," Emily said. "If you absolutely have to talk to her, then you should try to be as short and polite as you can. I just think you should keep your distance until you've…" She couldn't think of the right word to say.

"Until I've what?" James asked.

"Grown up," Emily muttered.

"Ok," James said. "That's all I have to do?"

"No, that's just the beginning," Emily laughed. "You need to stop bullying people, especially Snape."

Sirius groaned at this. "But he starts everything!"

Emily rolled her eyes and said, "Look, I know he's a prat but Lily seems to think he's her friend."

"She's friends with that slimy git?" James asked in shock.

"I don't know if they're actually friends," Emily said as if she couldn't believe Severus Snape could have any friends. "Anyways, they talk to each other in potions and I'm sure she'll hear about it from him if you do anything to him. And you need to quit showing off and you need to stop playing such malicious pranks on people."

Sirius gasped. "We can't stop playing pranks!" He turned to James and said, "I told you this was a bad idea!"

"I didn't tell you to stop playing pranks!" Emily said. "I simply said not to play such malicious pranks."

James looked thoughtful for a minute. "So if I leave Lily and Snape alone, don't bully the first years anymore and only play harmless pranks, then Lily will like me?"

"Well, she'll like you a lot more than she does now," Emily said. "Look, James, there's more to it but I really think you should just start slow."

"Slow?" Sirius butted in. "You've told him to change himself completely! You think that's starting slow?"

Emily rolled her eyes but didn't say anything to Sirius. They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady and James told her the password. "Bye," Emily muttered before hurrying up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. James and Sirius walked over to the table where Remus and Peter were doing their homework and sat down. James turned to Sirius and said, "What do you think?"

"About what?" Peter asked curiously.

"You're a nosey little git, aren't you Wormtail?" Sirius grinned at Peter, who narrowed his eyes at Sirius but didn't say anything.

"Sullivan was finally helping me," James explained to Peter and Remus.

"Oh," Remus said, turning back to his potions book. He still didn't think that it was a good idea.

"Did she tell you how you could make Evans like you?" Peter asked.

"No, Wormtail, she told him how to make a nice casserole," Sirius said sarcastically.

"What did she say?" Peter asked, deciding to ignore Sirius.

"Well, she said I had to stop bullying people around, especially Snape, stop showing off and I had to leave Lily alone," James said. Remus rolled his eyes at this, he had told James the exact same thing but he hadn't listened.

"And she said you had to stop pranking people!" Sirius reminded him.

"What?" Peter asked in shock. "You're not going to do that, are you?"

"Of course he isn't," Sirius scoffed at the idea. "Right, Prongs?"

"I don't know," James said. He didn't think he could give up pranking. It was who he was, it was in his blood and it was what he was known throughout the school for. He watched as Lily sat with Alice Smith and Frank Longbottom, talking animatedly about something and felt a pang of jealousy in his gut.

Sirius looked at James in shock. "You're telling me that you're going to have tea with Snape just so you can shag Evans?"

Peter sniggered and Remus shook his head. "It's not like that, Padfoot," James said.

"So you don't want to shag her?" Sirius asked, confused. "Then why are you doing this?"

"No, I do want to," James said, blushing now. "But that's not all that I want."

Sirius narrowed his eyes and said, "Oh, so you're going soft on us? Is that what you're trying to say?"

James glared at Sirius and punched him on the arm. "I have not and will never go soft."

"Maybe Emily just meant that you shouldn't bully people or show off in front of Lily?" Peter suggested. "But it's ok to do it when she's not watching?" Sirius and James both gaped at Peter. Peter looked at them and said, "It makes sense."

"Yeah, if you only have three brain cells," Sirius said, shaking his head. He turned to James and said, "I can't believe that you're going to do it."

"I think it's great," Remus said. He thought it was about time James grew up. He only hoped that Sirius would follow suit.

-----

Lily walked into the library the next night and smiled when she saw Remus sitting alone at a table, working on something. She walked over to him and said, "Is it alright if I sit here?" Normally, Lily wouldn't have done this. Even though she thought Remus was the most tolerable out of all the marauders, she didn't like the fact that he couldn't keep his friends in line and he continued to play pranks while he was a prefect. But her friends had all been so busy the last few days, Alice was with Frank, Madison had been spending all her time with Vincent MacDonald and Emily had been at quidditch practice, that Lily had felt pretty lonely sitting by herself in the common room at night.

"Yeah," Remus smiled before going back to his homework.

"What are you working on?" Lily asked as she sat down across from him.

"The arithmancy essay," Remus said. "I'm having a hard time with it, though."

"So am I," Lily said as she pulled her arithmancy book out of her bag. "Do you want to work on it together?"

"Sure," Remus said, smiling in relief. Lily was the best student in arithmancy and he knew he would get a good grade on his essay if they worked together. He pulled out a complicated number chart and said, "I can't really understand this chart."

Lily looked at it and said, "It took me almost a week to figure that one out!" She explained it to Remus and they began working on their essays together.

After working quietly for an hour, Lily looked up and noticed that Remus looked sickly. Well, Remus always had a sickly look to him but it was more pronounced today. "Remus, are you feeling alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," Remus lied nervously. "It's just a cold." The truth was that it wasn't just a cold; the full moon was in a couple days and he could feel his body getting weaker as the wolf got ready to take over. But he could never let Lily know about that, he figured she would think he was a horrible monster that had to be killed.

"Are you sure?" Lily asked, not believing him. "Do you want to go to the Hospital Wing?"

"No, it's fine," Remus said.

Lily stared at him. She knew Remus was lying but didn't think she should press it any further. "Well, you should go see Madam Pomfrey if it gets any worse."

Remus smirked, "Yes, mother."

Lily laughed and was shushed by Madam Pince, who was walking around the library glaring at all the students. They worked in silence until Madam Pince came back to their table to tell them that the library was closing. "We should check this book out of the library," Lily said, referring to a reference book that Remus had found. It had been very helpful in deciphering even the most complicated number charts.

"You do it," Remus said. "I owe about a galleon in overdue charges."

Lily smiled and walked to the front of the library, where Madam Pince was checking out books for a long line of students. It took Lily ten minutes to get the book because Madam Pince was spending more time glaring at the students than actually checking the books out. Remus waited for her by the library doors and they left together. "I really don't like that woman," Lily muttered once they were a considerable distance away from the library.

"Who?" Remus asked, surprised. He never would have expected Lily Evans to say anything bad about an authority figure.

"Madam Pince," Lily said. "She's a little too fond of the books. It creeps me out."

Remus laughed. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she hates all of the students too."

"I know," Lily laughed. "All because we're using her precious books."

At that moment, Filch turned the corner and saw the both of them. "What are you doing out this late?" he asked, sounding excited that he found students out of their common rooms.

Remus looked confused and said, "It's not curfew yet."

"It is for the first and second years!" Filch said. There was a look of disappointment on his face because he knew he wouldn't be able to give Lily and Remus a detention.

Remus sniggered as Lily raised an eyebrow at Filch. "Do we look like we're first years?" she asked.

"Watch it," Filch said before shuffling the opposite way down the hallway.

Remus burst out laughing. "I never thought I'd ever see Lily Evans talk back to an authority figure."

Lily laughed and shrugged. "It was just Filch."

"Let me guess, you don't particularly like him either?" Remus smiled.

"No," Lily said, grinning. "Although I do think he and Madam Pince would make a lovely couple."

"A lovely, hate-filled couple that –" Remus stopped when they heard a noise coming from a broom closet they were passing. "What was that?"

Lily tried not to giggle and said, "Come on, Remus. Use your brain."

"Oh," Remus said as he realized it was probably a snogging couple. Lily grinned mischievously at him and started tiptoeing towards the door. "What are you doing?" Remus hissed.

She shushed him and knocked on the door. Seconds later, the door flung open to reveal Madison and Vincent MacDonald. "Lily?" Madison said angrily, trying to smooth her tousled hair. "What the fuck?"

Lily tried to look disapproving but failed. "So that's where you went," Lily grinned. "You guys better get back to your common rooms, it's almost curfew."

"You guys are still out," Madison said accusingly.

"We're prefects," Lily said smugly.

"You're not on patrol tonight," Madison countered.

"Fine Madison. Get back in the cupboard but don't say I didn't warn you when Filch catches you," Lily said.

"Fine," Madison muttered. She grabbed Vincent's hand and started walking with him towards his common room, although Lily knew that they were going to find another closet to snog in.

She looked over at Remus, who had stayed quiet during this exchange and saw that he was scowling. Once she was sure that the hallway was deserted, she turned to him and said, "Excuse me if this is too personal, Remus, but you really like her, don't you?"

Remus blushed and looked down at his shoes. "I'm sorry, Lily, but that is too personal."

"Oh, sorry," Lily said quietly. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's ok," Remus interrupted her.

Lily smiled at him and they walked the rest of the way in silence. When they reached the portrait hole, Lily wasn't quite sure what she was doing when she turned to Remus and said, "Remus, I know I'm probably overstepping my boundaries here again and if you ever tell anyone I told you this, I will deny it and then kill you while you sleep. But she told me the other week that you were the person she'd want to have an actual, serious relationship with, not these silly two-week flings that she seems to be stuck on. I just thought you should know that." With that, she told the Fat Lady the password and hurried into the common room before Remus could say anything else.

Remus stood there in shock. He wasn't sure what to make of what she had just said, but he didn't have to ask who Lily was talking about. He shook his head, grinned, and walked into the common room.

-----

Sirius groaned as he trudged into the quidditch changing rooms with the rest of the team. They had just had a less than spectacular practice and Emily was on the warpath. He walked over to the locker next to James's and said, "So are we still going to prank Snape tomorrow?"

"Be quiet, Padfoot!" James said, looking around for Emily. "If Sullivan hears you, she's going to kill me!"

"She's too busy shrieking at Whitehorn to notice," Sirius said.

"I do not shriek, Black," Emily said from behind them, sounding slightly murderous.

James jumped and said, "No, you just sneak up on people and eavesdrop on their conversations."

Emily ignored that and said, "Can you two stop thinking about pranks for the two hours of practice? Is that really too much to ask? Or are your pranks more important than our match, which, if you've forgotten, is in two bloody days!"

"Don't worry about the match, Sullivan," Sirius smirked. He knew he was pushing Emily's buttons.

"Don't worry?" Emily shrieked, her face turning pink. "Don't worry? One of my chasers is trying too bloody hard to show off, my seeker lost the bloody snitch, I played the worst I have ever played, you got hit in the face with a bludger because you were too busy making kissy faces at your girlfriend in the stands and you're telling me not to worry!"

"Ok," Sirius muttered. "Maybe you should worry a little bit."

Emily closed her eyes and counted to ten before turning to James and said, "James, I want you and Matt to work with Kennedy tomorrow, alright?" James nodded. "And while you're at it, can you please tell him that you're not out to get him?"

"It's not nice to lie," James smirked.

"It is when it comes to quidditch!" Emily said. She turned to Sirius and said, "And Black, tell your bloody girlfriend to stop coming to the fucking practices!" She turned sand saw Kennedy trying to sneak out of the changing room. "Williamson!" she yelled. "Don't you try to sneak off, I've got to talk to you!" She hurried off after him.

"What is her problem?" Sirius said angrily as he changed into his school robes.

Matthew Sullivan, who was standing a couple lockers down from Sirius, snorted and said, "You really don't know?"

Sirius looked at Matthew, his mouth hanging open in shock. "You know too?"

Matthew looked at Sirius and said, "Of course I know. It's pretty damn obvious."

"Did she tell everyone what I did to piss her off except me?" Sirius muttered, feeling very annoyed.

"Who did she tell?" Matt asked curiously.

"James," Sirius muttered.

"She didn't tell me, I figured it out," James clarified. "And it is kind of obvious, Padfoot."

Matt laughed. "You must be stupid if you haven't figured it out yet, Black." He gathered up his things and said, "I'll see you guys later."

Sirius turned to James after Matt left and said, "You're still not going to tell me?"

"Sirius, do you really want to know?" James asked,

"Yes!" Sirius practically yelled. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know!"

"Then ask her," James said as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

Sirius stared dumbfounded at James for a minute. "Right," he said. "I'll just go up to her while she's ripping her hair out over the damn quidditch team and say 'Hello Emily, do you think you could tell me why you've been such a horrid bitch to me these past few months?' I'm sure that will go over really well, Prongs."

James snorted. "You're right. She'd probably slap you and then storm off."

"Exactly," Sirius said. He leaned against the locker and watched Emily as she ranted to Gwenog Jones about the practice. "How haven't I noticed it if it's so damn obvious?" he said thoughtfully.

James shrugged. "Maybe you can't see it because you're too involved."

Sirius stood in a thoughtful silence while he waited for James to finish changing. "I could always give her some veritaserum," he said as he walked out with James. "Or follow her around under the cloak until she mentions it to somebody."

James laughed. "You could always lock her in a room somewhere and not let her out until she tells you."

Sirius turned to James sand said, "That's a brilliant idea, Prongs!" He turned around and walked back to the changing room.

"I was just joking, Padfoot!" James yelled after him. James shook his head and continued walking up to the castle.

Sirius stood by the door to the changing room, hoping to ambush Emily when she walked out. He nodded to the rest of the team as they walked by but after ten minutes, Emily still hadn't left. He walked back into the changing room and saw her sitting on a bench in front of a miniature model of a quidditch field, prodding it with her wand and muttering to herself. "Sullivan?" he asked. "Have you finally gone insane?"

"No, why?" Emily asked without looking up.

"Well, you're threatening the plastic model seeker," Sirius pointed out, trying not to laugh. "Most people wouldn't consider that sane."

"It's quidditch, it's making me mad," she muttered. "All of you will put me in St. Mungo's."

"Maybe you should stop thinking about it for the night," Sirius suggested.

She sighed and got up from the bench. "You're right," she said. She grabbed the team's broomsticks, stuck them under her arm and then grabbed the crate holding the balls.

Sirius took it from her and said, "I'll get that."

"Thanks," she muttered absentmindedly and they walked to the broom shed in silence. She opened the door for him but he stood there stubbornly and said, "You first." She raised an eyebrow at him but walked into the broom shed, placing the brooms against the wall with the school brooms. Sirius followed her in, put the crate down and muttered, "Colloportus."

Emily turned around and heard the door make a squelching sound. "What the hell, Sirius?" she asked, confused.

"I'm not letting you out until you tell me what is wrong with you," Sirius said.

"There's nothing wrong with me!" Emily said defensively.

She pulled her wand out of her pocket but Sirius was too fast for her. "Expelliarmus!" he yelled. Emily's wand flew from her hand and onto the ground next to Sirius's feet. He picked it up and said, "Yes there is, Emily. You've been avoiding me ever since school started and whenever you're around me, you either ignore me or treat me like shit."

"No I haven't," Emily said defiantly.

"Yes you have!" Sirius said.

"No I –" Emily stopped herself and rubbed her forehead. "Look Black, we're obviously not going to get anywhere so just let me out!"

Sirius laughed and said, "Or what?"

Emily crossed her arms and glared at the floor. After a few minutes she said, "Well, I hope you at least brought some blankets because there's no way we're getting out of here tonight."

"Why won't you just tell me what I did to piss you off?" Sirius said, annoyed now. "That's all you have to do! Then we can leave and you can go back to avoiding me."

"I can't tell you," Emily said softly, determinedly not looking at him.

"Why not?" Sirius said, practically yelling.

"Because it would ruin everything!" Emily yelled.

That confused Sirius. "What?"

"I can't tell you because it would ruin everything, Sirius!" Emily said, sounding slightly neurotic. "And I'm just not prepared for that!"

"It won't ruin anything, Emily." Sirius was really confused now. He took a step closer to her and said gently, "I promise it won't."

Emily looked into Sirius's grey eyes, which were wide with confusion, and it was like something inside of her snapped. Before she knew what she was doing, she grabbed him and kissed him.