A/N: I'm baaaaaack! Sorry it's taken me so long to update but the story is beginning to wrap up so hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to update a lot faster than I have been. A LOT of things happen in this chapter so I hope you enjoy every minute of it!
Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling although I am angry at Warner Bros for pushing back the release of the 6th HP movie!
Kisses on the Balcony
By ByeByeBirdie
Chapter 13: Of Sissies, Neutering, & Walks
"Hi guys!" Lily said cheerfully, sliding onto the bench at the Gryffindor table the next morning.
Remus glanced up at her in surprise. "You're in good spirits considering you spent an entire Saturday in the library."
Lily shrugged and smiled to herself. "I…I didn't spend the entire Saturday there."
"Oh I'm sorry. I guess you did sleep in a little," Remus teased.
Lily gave him a look. "Not what I meant."
Kay grinned, her eyes growing eagerly. "Did James do something for you last night?"
Lily nodded, her smile only growing. "Yeah, he did."
Remus, Sirius, and Peter exchanged confused looks. "I thought you didn't want him to do anything," Peter inquired.
"I didn't," Lily replied.
"You didn't want your boyfriend to do anything for you on Valentine's Day?" Jillian asked, confused. "I feel like I'm missing valuable information to that story."
Lily laughed. "It's…it's a long story," she said vaguely. "Remus will fill you in later, I'm sure."
Remus snorted. "I don't even understand all of it. Your life is way too complicated."
"Not anymore," Lily said with a shrug.
Sirius gasped and turned to look at Lily with an accusing gaze. "Oh God, you're happy because after he surprised you, you murdered him, didn't you…"
Lily threw a piece of bacon at him. "No."
"Damn, I was kinda hoping that was it."
That earned him a round of glares.
He grinned sheepishly. "Well, if he's not dead then where is he?" Sirius asked, popping the bacon into his mouth.
"Still sleeping," Lily pointed out. "You know that guy can't wake up before noon on a Sunday afternoon."
"He has no problem waking up at 7 AM for Quidditch practice," Sirius murmured, reaching over to Lily's plate to grab another piece of bacon.
She swatted at him.
"So what did James do?" Kay asked Lily giddily.
"Ooh, yeah!" Jillian cried eagerly.
"Well, I came back from the library-"
"Aghhh, noooo," the boys groaned together, Sirius placing his head on the table and whimpering.
Lily, Kay, Jillian glanced at them curiously. "What?" Kay asked.
Sirius sighed and slowly lifted his head off the table. "The day after Valentine's Day is a day for the girls to get together and gossip about what their boyfriends did for them romantically. But nowhere in that statement does it say that guys should be present during that."
The girls all stared at them blankly.
"In other words, go somewhere else," Peter suggested.
The girls all stared at them blankly.
"I have a feeling we're gonna get something thrown at us," Remus whispered to Peter sitting beside him.
"Guys are pathetic," Jillian said. Remus feigned a gasp. "Yes, even you, Remus," she laughed. "You guys do the most romantic things for us and yet the next day, you barely acknowledge that."
"Yes, because we're guys," Remus explained. "We're supposed to be manly and macho and…and…manly. Doing something romantic for our girlfriends puts us in a whole different category."
"Yeah, it's called the sissy category," Sirius sniggered.
"A guy can be manly and macho," Lily mocked, "and still be romantic."
"Yeah, not so much in the guy world," Peter corrected.
"Guys are pathetic," Jillian repeated with a laugh.
"As long as I'm pathetic and manly," Remus teased, winking at her.
"No, just pathetic," Jillian teased.
Remus pouted.
"You're also very romantic," Jillian continued, enjoying the strained look on Remus' face. "It's almost sissy-like."
"I give you what I believe to be a very nice Valentine's Day and you repay me by selling me out to my friends?" Remus said, pouting. "Well, that's the last time I do something romantic for you."
Jillian winced and quickly turned to the boys. "Scratch that part about him being pathetic and romantic. He's as manly as they come."
Remus grinned.
Sirius snorted. "Oh hell no. You already said it!" he snickered. "Now I have no choice to tell the world that Remus falls under the sissy category."
Remus whimpered and started banging his head on the table. "Why does God hate me?"
"Probably because you're a sissy," Lily snickered, launching them all into a fresh wave of laughter.
"Come on, Lily," Kay said as she took a last sip of pumpkin juice before standing up. "Let's go, how'd you put it, Sirius? 'Gossip about what your boyfriends did for you romantically?'"
Sirius nodded. "That's the basic point, yeah."
Lily rolled her eyes as she stood up, too. "I reiterate Jillian's point: you're pathetic."
Kay laughed and turned to Jillian. "You want to come, too?"
Jillian shrugged and nodded. "Yeah sure. I definitely want to know what James was able to come up with at the last minute."
"And then you can tell us the sissy, romantic thing Remus did for you," Lily giggled.
Remus groaned.
Jillian grinned as she kissed Remus quickly before standing up and following them out of the Great Hall.
Remus smiled after her and turned back to the guys. "I'm glad Jillian's getting along well with the girls."
Sirius coughed, which sounded a lot like 'sissy!'
Remus threw a piece of bacon at him.
Riley was in the back of the library when the most unexpected thing happened.
James slid into the seat across from her, dropping his bag against the ground.
Riley glanced up from her work and did a double-take. She stared at him in shock, no words coming to mind.
"I need to talk to you," James said sternly.
"Er…okay."
"It's about Lily."
Riley stiffened. "I don't want to talk about her," she responded hastily, immediately going back to scribbling something down on her essay, in hopes that James would get the hint. Of course James only came to talk to her about Lily; why should she have thought any differently?
"Riley," he said unsympathetically. "She hates it that you're mad at her. She's miserable without you."
"Naturally," Riley said dryly, rolling her eyes as she glanced in her textbook beside her for another symptom of being under an Amortentia potion.
James reached across the table and slapped her quill down on to the table. "Riley," he warned. "You're being unfair to her. She told you about her past hoping that you'd be understanding and sympathetic."
"This coming from the guy who can't try to be a little understanding of my relationship with Sirius," Riley snapped, pulling her hand out from underneath James', snapping her quill in the process.
"It's two different situations," James protested hastily, gripping the pieces of the quill in his hand tightly so as not to throw them across the table at her.
"You're right," Riley said huffily. "Because she didn't tell us a huge secret for six years. You found out about Sirius and me after only six weeks."
"Oh, and you would've told me before six years if I hadn't found out?" James snorted. "And you're being completely hypocritical. You're annoyed that I'm mad at you for keeping a secret from me, yet you're mad at Lily for keeping a secret!"
"Except when Lily told me about her situation, I didn't completely lash out at her with unnecessary judgmental insults!"
James hadn't thought of that.
"Can we please just..." she sighed, trailing off. She gazed up at him, desperation in her eyes. "You don't get to avoid me for weeks and then swoop in to try and save the day only when it's convenient to you. I thought you were better than that."
James frowned, wincing as a sharp edge of the broken quill dug into his palm. He quickly released the quill from his hand with a sigh. "And I thought you were a better friend to Lily than you're being."
Riley sighed. "I thought Lily was a better friend than she really is."
"I can't believe how selfish you're being," James sighed, shaking his head at her in disappointment.
Riley didn't reply to that, mostly because a little part of her knew he was right.
"Everyone has secrets, Riley, especially when it comes to their families," James pointed out with a look of desperation. "And no one divulges them the first day of school. It takes a while for people to trust others and trust in themselves enough to tell them their darkest secrets. Sirius didn't tell us about his horrible family until days before Christmas Break of first year. It's not like-"
"Oh please, that's such a lie," Riley snapped, giving him a 'yeah right' look. "He told me within the first couple of weeks."
James' look softened. "What?" he said in a gentle, surprised voice.
Riley nodded. "Yeah. He didn't wait six years. He didn't even wait six weeks!"
James just continued staring at her, with a look that Riley was unable to read.
"What?" Riley snapped.
James bit down on his bottom lip and shook his head in disbelief. "He told you within the first couple of weeks?"
"Yes," Riley cried, aggravated.
"Hm."
"What?" Riley barked.
James shrugged nonchalantly and when he didn't respond right away, Riley let out a frustrated grunt and attempted to dig through her bag for another quill.
James continued to eye her. "Maybe you two are meant for each other," he said softly.
Riley lifted her eyes slowly and stared directly into James'. "What?" she whispered in confusion.
James shrugged again. "Nothing," he said, shaking his head, returning to his previous anger.
"Oh," Riley said, disappointed. "Can I ask you something, James?"
James nodded without saying a word, still wondering why Sirius had told Riley within the first few weeks of meeting her and yet didn't tell him until two months later.
"What did you think when you found out about Lily's family?"
Whatever question he was expecting, it wasn't that. He sat back in the chair with a frown. "I thought that she might be one of the strongest and bravest people I know," he murmured, thinking back to the moment Sirius had blurted out her secret to him. Everything inside of James had been crushed, tortured with shock and sympathy for a girl who never once looked shattered.
Riley felt slight guilt weigh in the pit of her stomach. "Yeah, I thought the same," she murmured.
James' eyebrow shot up. "You did not give that impression."
She shrugged. "She told me I took my family for granted," she muttered.
James met her strained gaze and said, "Maybe we do sometimes. Maybe we take all of the people we care about for granted sometimes."
Their eyes met desperately, and Riley knew he was talking about them. She said nothing on the matter, however, instead saying, "Do you have an extra quill on you?"
James blinked at the abrupt end of subject, but he merely nodded and reached into his bag to hand her a quill. Taking this to mean that Riley wanted to go back to work, he slowly stood up from the table. "Bye," he murmured.
Riley returned to her essay, thoughts jumbling about in her mind. She wanted to say something, but was at a loss of what. There was an awkward tension wavering in the air between them and it was obvious both wanted to acknowledge it, but neither did. She wanted him to stay there and wanted to say so, but she also knew he would reject the offer so didn't bother saying anything. She missed his friendship and just him being there willingly talking to her made her feel that much better about their situation.
"Make sure you take care of that cut," Riley said, gesturing towards the tiny blood stain on his palm. She mentally slapped herself. That was all she could think of to say?
James glanced down at his hand and nodded. "Yeah," he murmured, taking his eyes off of his hand and back on to Riley. "Bye," James said for a second time, wondering what was keeping him rooted to the spot. He stood there lingering for a few more seconds, staring at her, before he slowly turned around.
He stopped at the sound of Riley's voice. "He really didn't tell you until Christmas Break?"
James froze on the spot and half-turned to glance at her. "The week before actually."
"But he told me…" she trailed off in a voice barely above a whisper.
"Yeah," James murmured. They both pondered that lingering question before James felt a sudden awkwardness standing there. He gave Riley one more meaningful look before walking out of the library, trying to straighten out his thoughts.
Riley watched him walk out and sighed, a poignant feeling welling up within the pit of her stomach.
Were they ever going to be friends again?
Lily had just gotten out of the shower when there was a knock on her door.
"Come in!" she cried, knowing it was going to be James. She giggled, thinking of the last time he walked in while she was wearing a towel.
When Lily turned around to greet him, she froze.
"Hi," Riley greeted.
"You're not James" was Lily's response.
"Yes, good observation."
"And I'm in a towel."
"Another excellent observation. They don't call you Head Girl for nothing."
"I just meant I need to put on clothes," Lily clarified.
"Uh, okay…" Riley said in confusion. "So…do you want me to come back?"
"Are you going to come back?" Lily asked.
"Heh?"
"Why are you here?"
"Why is this conversation so weird?" Riley chuckled nervously, trying to ease the tension.
Lily gave her a look before walking over to her dresser. "Because you've been ignoring me for the past week and we haven't spoken a word since."
Riley sighed guiltily. "I know," she murmured. "That's why I'm here."
Lily froze as she pulled out a sweater from her bottom drawer.
Riley bit her lip nervously and walked slowly over to Lily's bed, where she took a seat on the edge of it. "I've been a bitch."
"Yeah," Lily agreed.
"I've been really selfish," Riley continued.
"Yeah."
"I didn't stop to think about how you were feeling."
"So far, I'm not arguing."
Riley ran her fingers through her knotty hair and sighed. "I'm really sorry, Lily. I know the last thing you needed from me was to completely shut you out. It was wrong and I know that. I…I just had no idea how to respond to a confession like the one you told us. And then when you started talking about my family, I wondered if maybe you were right. And I just...I don't know, I felt weird about the whole thing."
Lily sighed and turned around, leaning back against the dresser. "Riley, I never meant to make you feel guilty for the family you have. You're incredibly lucky is what you are."
"I know, but you were right when you said I don't always acknowledge that."
"Because you don't know anything else," she pointed out. "They've been around your whole life, nagging you and mocking you and pressuring you. You're supposed to fight with them. I'm pretty sure it's in every family handbook."
Riley chewed on the inside of her lip hesitantly. "You know what's not in that handbook?" she murmured. "Death and abandonment."
Lily's heart constricted at the bluntness in those words.
"I can't imagine what you've been through, Lily," she whispered.
"Don't try and imagine it," she sighed, sauntering over to where Riley sat and dropping on to the bed beside her. "It's not a pretty picture."
Riley rested her head against her bare shoulder. "Tell me about them," she pleaded.
A nostalgic smile crept on to her lips as she thought back to her childhood. "My Mum and Dad were so much in love," she whispered. "I caught them holding hands under the dinner table or sharing a kiss when they thought no one was looking or randomly dancing to some song on the radio while Mum made dinner. Her laughter was infectious. I could be in the worst mood ever and the moment I heard her laugh, it was as if everything was okay again. And my father was so spontaneous. One minute we'd be having breakfast at home like it was any other day and the next minute, he decided we were going to take a trip to the amusement park just because he wanted to. He loved surprises! Giving them, getting them, being a part of them. He would spend months trying to find the perfect Anniversary gift for Mum. And she'd inevitably love it no matter what it was because she knew how much he loved her. And...and he loved me and my sister more than anything in the world. Mum, too. Growing up, I considered myself really lucky for having them."
By the end of it, she was aware that silent tears were trickling down her face.
"I'm sure they felt the same way about you," Riley whispered, squeezing her best friend's hand.
Lily reached up to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "I miss them every day," she murmured.
"I know you do."
Lily attempted to put on a smile, turning to face Riley apologetically. "I really am sorry I kept it bottled up for so long. You guys deserved to know a long time ago."
"I get it," Riley murmured, thinking back to a conversation she had previously had with Sirius. "It's not easy being anything but normal in a school who thrives upon gossiping against anything even remotely unconventional."
Lily met her gaze, a surprised look on her face. "I already had a bit of a target on my back seeing as I was Muggleborn. I didn't need to give people any other reason to talk about me behind my back."
"Friends again?" Riley pleaded.
"We were never not friends," Lily urged.
Riley smiled. "You want to head back to the Gryffindor common room? There was a whole bunch of people convening there."
"Er...can I change first?" Lily teased.
"I'm sure James would be opposed."
"He'd be opposed to me changing so that I can walk into the Gryffindor common room in front of seven years worth of Gryffindor students in only a towel?"
Riley hesitated. "Okay, maybe he'd be for it."
Riley and Lily sauntered into the Gryffindor common room together where Remus nodded in their direction and gestured them over to where he was sitting amongst a group of people. Remus and Jillian were canoodling in the loveseat, Dezzy, Drew, and Peter were lounging on the sofa and Kay was lying on the floor in front of all of them. Beside Kay also sat two of Dezzy and Drew's friends, Skyler and Brad, who also happened to be dating.
"No, James would probably kill you, Dezzy," Remus snickered as Riley and Lily joined them. "I'd steer clear of the whole 'I'm dating someone' conversation for a while. At least until his whole ordeal with Sirius and Riley blows over."
"I hate overprotective brothers," Dezzy murmured.
Remus shrugged. "What do you expect for being the only girl in a house full of testosterone?"
Dezzy just groaned.
Kay glanced curiously at Riley and Lily as they plopped down on the floor beside her. "Wait, I thought you two were avoiding each other."
"For reasons still unknown to me, by the way," Remus interjected with a quirked eyebrow.
"Well, now you don't need to know why, because everything is fine," Riley urged.
Before Kay could question their make up further, James stormed through the portrait hole and set his eyes on them. "God, I hate Slytherins!" James snapped, slumping on to the floor beside his girlfriend.
Lily groaned. "Please tell me you didn't get into a fight with them."
"No," James argued, shaking his head. "I just told Rodolphus he was a righteous git and walked away."
Remus shook his head. "You walked away? Impossible. I don't believe it for a second."
James gave him a sheepish grin. "Okay, well I...er I may have enlarged his head in the process."
"James!" Lily groaned.
"It was an accident!"
Lily glared at him.
"Alright, I did it on purpose, but he was being a righteous git!" he whined.
Lily let out a sigh. "One of these days I'm going to teach you self control."
Dezzy snorted. "Oh please, Mom and Dad have been trying to teach him that since day one, ever since he and Brite used to pester everyone with their endless pranking as kids."
James grinned. "Yeah, those were the good ol' days. Remember that time I stole his broom and he freaked out for about a week?"
Dezzy snorted. "Yeah, I remember him chasing you around the house screaming he was going to kill you when he found it underneath your bed."
"And yet I'm still here," he grinned.
"Speaking of Brite, how's his wedding coming along?" Drew asked eagerly.
James made a face. "Don't remind me. He keeps sending me letter asking me to do things."
"Gasp! The groom-to-be is asking his Best Man for help? Oh the horror!" Remus said overdramatically.
"I don't think making reservations for him and Bianca for Valentine's Day or getting an appointment at the vet to get his cat neutered falls under the duties the Best Man is supposed to perform."
Laughter filled the room. "You have to get their cat neutered?" Skyler giggled.
"I don't want to talk about it," James muttered.
That sent everyone into another round of laughter. James merely pouted. "He wants my opinion on invitations now," he continued. "I didn't even know there were different types of invitations."
Kay sighed and shook her head. "You have so much to learn."
"I know!" James whined. "Why did I decide being Best Man was a good idea?"
"Because it gave you a title and you like power?" Riley claimed with a teasing smile.
James met her gaze and slowly, a smile crept on to his lips. This was typically the part where he would ignore her but ever since their brief conversation in the library, he had done a lot of thinking. By calling Riley selfish, by association, he was calling himself selfish. And maybe a part of him was but a larger part was probably being unreasonable towards her. Had he always approved of the people she had dated in the past? No. But he reluctantly accepted that she as with them. So what made this any different?
"Hm, this is true," he mused. "It's the only reason I accepted the Head Boy position."
"AHEM!"
"Oh, yeah, and to be close to you," James teased, kissing Lily's cheek. He noticed the surprise in Riley's eye at the sheer fact that he had actually joked back with her.
"Right, because that worked so well for the first three months? Do you not remember the fist fight incident?" Remus snorted.
James scowled. "Hey, we got together in the end, did we not?"
"Most people don't give each other black eyes a week before starting a relationship," Drew pointed out.
"Yeah, is that what happened between you and Dezzy before you started dating?" Riley teased, poking her brother in the leg.
Every single one of them froze after she said it. James blinked twice before crying out, "Wait, what!?"
Dezzy groaned and buried her head in her arms in embarrassment.
"Oops," Riley murmured.
"Way to go, sis," Drew muttered.
"You two are dating?" James growled, his eyes growing wide as he darted his head back and forth between the two.
"Um," Dezzy chuckled nervously. "Yeah, kinda."
He scowled. "How does one kinda date."
She rolled her eyes. "Okay, so not kinda. Definitely."
"Dez! What is the one thing that I have always told you about the Gilmores?" James said to his cowering sister, crossing his arms bitterly.
"That if Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore would adopt you, you'd move in immediately," Dezzy replied without missing a beat.
James paused. "What's the second thing that I have always told you about the Gilmores?"
"Wait, let's go back to that first thing," Riley chimed in with a grin. "You actually liked us that much?"
"What, us being best friends for the past eighteen years doesn't coincide with that?"
Riley shrugged, smiling. "I'm just letting you know now that my mother is crazy and my brothers are even more so. And-"
"Hey!" Drew whined.
"-And I don't think Gran would appreciate you moving in with us considering she's convinced we'll get married one of these days."
Drew snorted. "Like James being your stepbrother would stop Gran from marrying you two."
"Yeah, the woman is stalking me," James muttered. "She sends me letters every once and a while wondering how my love life is going. You'd think she would have taken a hint when I said Riley and I are never getting married. Apparently to her, that means 'eh, it's still possible.'"
"My grandmother will never take a hint when it comes to planning out my life," Riley snorted.
"Should I feel worried?" Lily teased.
James shook his head. "I wouldn't marry Riley if Granny Gilmore paid me a million galleons to do so."
"Aw, that's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me," Riley said, wiping away a fake tear.
James chuckled, his heart skipping a beat at how easy it was to return to the way things used to be between them. This was how it was supposed to be. They were supposed to be friends. She wasn't supposed to be making a mistake by dating a guy who would break her heart.
"Yeah, I'm a sentimental guy-wait a mintute!" he cried out, a glare evident on his face. "How did we change the subject off of Drew and Dezzy!?"
"Damn," Drew muttered. "I thought we had bypassed that."
"How long have the two of you been together?" James demanded.
"Officially?" Drew asked. He turned to Dezzy with a shrug. "A little over a week."
James scowled. "I always liked you and then you pull something like this. Well now I don't wanna be your stepbrother."
Drew snorted. "Shucks, because I really needed a fifth brother."
James hesitated. "I have a feeling you're being sarcastic."
"I have a feeling you're right," he responded. He rolled his eyes and stood up off the ground. "On that note, I'm getting out of here before you and my sister start making fun of me."
"Aww, but I'm so good at it!" Riley whimpered.
Drew made a face and then turned to Dezzy. "You wanna go for a walk?"
"Oh hell no!" James interrupted, holding up a hand in protest. "I know what a walk means. I've taken plenty of walks around this school. I'm the King of walking around this school. No way are you two taking a walk!"
Dezzy rolled her eyes and stood up, much to the protests of her big brother. "Unlike you, James, some of us actually know the meaning of just walking."
"Wait, I'm kinda more interested in James' kind of walk," Drew teased, winking at her.
James shuddered. "Great, now I've put ideas in his head."
"This is why you should just learn to keep your mouth shut," Riley pointed out.
Remus snorted. "That'll never happen."
James was about to protest, but Drew and Dezzy interrupted with their good-byes as they headed out of the common room, James making grumbling comments under his breath about them.
"I can't believe they're dating. Have I taught my sister nothing over the years?" James groaned.
"This coming from the guy who started dating at thirteen, two years younger than Dezzy is now," Remus pointed out.
"I'm a guy. We mature faster," James defended.
All of the girls burst into raucous laughter, leaving the guys to pout.
"How about we go take a walk?" Brad Harper finally spoke, turning to Skyler. "Preferably James' kind of walk."
"Oh look, now you're corrupting all of the fifth-years, James," Jillian teased.
James made a face.
"Oh believe me, we've been corrupted for years," Skyler joked, winking at the group as she and her boyfriend left the common room.
"So, help me come up with ideas to make Drew comatose," James complained.
"Um, excuse me, that's my brother!" Riley protested.
James stared at her blankly. "What's your point?"
She rolled her eyes. "James, Dezzy is's fifteen," Riley pointed out. "I think it's time you stopped making all of the decisions for her."
"But when I don't, she makes bad decisions. What are the chances I can get away with making her decisions for the rest of her life?"
"Not likely. She'd murder you in a week," Riley snickered.
James groaned. "Well I wouldn't have to make her decisions if she didn't make such bad ones! Like getting in a relationship with a Gilmore! Terrible move!"
"And what is wrong with Gilmores?" Riley demanded.
"They break hearts!" James argued, pointing her finger at her. "Every single one of them!"
"Um, excuse me?" Kay interjected. "My boyfriend happens to be one of those Gilmores."
"And I happen to be a Gilmore!" Riley pointed out.
"Yeah, sorry about that whole dating a Gilmore thing, Kay," James responded with a teasing smile, passing over Riley's comment lightly.
"Hey!" Kay whined. "Lance isn't a heartbreaker!"
James snorted. "Oh please, all Gilmores are. It's their human nature. I mean, how many girls did he date before you?"
Kay gave him an irritated look. "Oh sure, and how many girls did you date before Kristina? Should I call you a heartbreaker, too? I'm sure Lily would appreciate that."
"Okay, this conversation has gotten awkward," Lily snickered.
"No, this conversation just got interesting," Remus joked.
"No, this conversation is over," Lily argued.
"Yeah okay, that too," Remus muttered. He grabbed Jillian's hands and stood up off the couch, stepping over James'. "Which is why I'm going to go take a walk with my girlfriend."
"Okay, but it better be one of James' kinds of walks or I'm out," Jillian giggled.
James groaned. "Damn, I'm corrupting all of the Gryffindors!"
"Not me," Peter argued as he, too, stood up. "I just have to go get tutored."
"Well, walk alone anyway," James murmured.
Lily gave him a sheepish look. "Actually, I have to head to the library, too."
"Yeah, same," Kay sighed.
James groaned. "Well please tell me you're just going to walk to the library, no sexual connotation included."
"Oh damn, and I was really hoping to snog Kay, too," Lily teased, wiggling her eyebrows at her boyfriend.
James hesitated. "Hm, now that I wouldn't be opposed to."
Lily laughed and kissed her boyfriend before getting up off the floor. Kay and Peter followed her out of the common room.
James slowly got up off the floor and moved to the couch, suddenly very aware that it was just him and Riley.
Riley stared at him with a curious frown, wondering how they could go from snarling at each other and ignoring each other to completely to joking around like it always used to be. An ache filled her heart at the realization of how much she had missed her best friend.
They both sat in an awkward silence before James sighed and turned to face Riley. "Riles," he said slowly.
Riley turned to meet his gaze, surprised to hear her nickname come out of James' mouth.
"I meant what I said earlier," he spoke softly. "It's easy taking the people you care about for granted because you know at the end of the day, you'll still always care about them."
Riley frowned, a nervous feeling welling up inside her stomach. "What you said and how you acted didn't make it seem like you cared at all," she murmured.
A cringe settled into his expression. "What you can't seem to get is that I said and acted how I did because of how much I care about you," he sighed. "I went about it all wrong, I realize that now. I freaked out in the moment and was rather abrasive, but I don't take back the intention behind any of it."
She leaned up against the couch with a sigh. "So then nothing's really changed since then," she murmured.
He couldn't deny that, so he didn't bother trying. "Riley," he whispered softly, "I've watched you fall apart after all these guys have broken your heart and every single time, I wondered if you'd be able to bounce back. I wondered if your heart was going to be able to be mended. But you did bounce back and your heart did eventually mend itself. And I-I'm just so afraid that if and when Sirius breaks your heart is the time you won't be able to bounce back again."
Riley found his words so sincerely haunting as she turned around to meet his gaze. "That was a much better way of putting it than the way you did the night you found out about us."
"I never said I was eloquent in the heat of the moment."
She nodded, turning back around to face the coffee table with a curious concentration. Neither spoke and she was grateful for it. When she couldn't take the silence anymore, she found herself saying what was on her mind. "What you don't seem to get, James, is that none of those other guys meant half as much to me as Sirius does now. He's always been the guy for me. No matter how many times I told myself he was a jackass, no matter how many times I remind myself that he broke my heart once and therefore can do it again, no matter how many times I tell myself he's not worth it, I-I can't not be with him. I tried listening to my head, James. I tried being logical about the whole thing, but...but in the end, it was my heart I listened to. And my heart wants him. It always has."
He didn't respond, running his fingers through his hair with a sigh.
Riley slowly joined him on the couch, her expression filling with earnestly. "I care about him more than I think you realize."
He winced, wanting to trust Riley's instincts. But while she was able to listen to her heart, both James' head and heart were screaming at her for trusting a guy who was a pro at breaking hearts.
She sighed when he said nothing. "James, I hope you know that I'm not going to break up with him."
"I'm not saying you have to," James finally spoke. "I just don't want to hear about him. Date him for all I care, but don't talk to me about it. I miss you, Riles, and I just want to go back to the way it used to be between us."
"So you just want to pretend it never happened?" Riley inquired curiously, giving James a strange look. "Like you never walked in on us?"
James shook his head. "No," he disputed. "There's no way I'm ever going to forget that. I just don't want to hear about it."
She frowned. "How am I supposed to be friends with you when you won't accept a big part of who I am right now?"
James shrugged, glancing away from her accusing eyes. "That's really up to you."
Riley gazed at James pensively, not taking her eyes off of his. She knew what she wanted but she didn't know if she was going to be able to sell herself short. They sat there like that, just staring at each other, for a long time as Riley thought about his vocalizations and thought about what she wanted. Eventually she forced out a smile. "Okay," she said. "If that's what it takes."
James was taken aback by her response. "Wait, that's it?"
Riley nodded coolly. "Yeah. Because I don't really like to scold my friends. I like believing in them."
James met her eyes and suddenly felt like he was six inches tall. "We're never going to be as good as friends as we used to."
"I know," Riley murmured. "It's a start, though."
James nodded. "Yeah, it is."
"Okay, I know this is against the rules," Riley mocked, rolling her eyes, "but what about Sirius? You still mad at him?"
James sighed, shrugging. "I don't know what I am when it comes to him. I guess...I don't know, I guess I just feel like I've been protecting you since we were kids and I-"
"I don't need you to protect me," she pleaded.
"I know, but it's just my instinct to do so," James said with a hesitant shrug. "Sirius may be one of my best friends, but...he's not you. You've been like a sister to me since the day our mothers put us together in that playpen. I love you, Riley. You know that. And-"
"So you feel like you have to choose between me and him?" she said in a small voice.
He frowned. "I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe? Yeah, I guess a part of me is."
"How is that supposed to make me feel?" she murmured. "I don't want to be the girl who gets in between your friendship with Sirius, James. I just-"
"You didn't. He did."
"By...by admitting his feelings for me?" she said with a pleading tone. "James, you may not think so but he really does care about me. The way he is with me isn't the same way he's been with other girls in the past. He's loyal and endearing. We can-"
"This the stuff I don't want to hear about," James interrupted, making a face.
Riley frowned, a lump forming in her throat. "Isn't this all just a little hypocritical?" Riley asked. "Making up with me but not him?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. Probably."
"Awesome, so you're putting me in the middle of this weird triangle," she muttered. "I don't know if I want to be in the middle, James."
His heart fluttered in defeat. "So basically you're choosing him over me," he murmured.
She quickly shook her head. "No! I'm saying that it should be all or nothing. You can't just pick when to be our friend when it's convenient for you. Don't you get that? Friendship is a privilege, James. Not a right based on how long you've known someone."
"I never said I was entitled to your friendship, Riles," he pointed out with a mere shrug. "I know I need to earn it back. That's what I'm trying to do."
"You're not doing a very good job at it," she admitted pleadingly.
He frowned. "I know," he whispered, hanging his head shamefully. "I just...I-I don't know how to be mad at you anymore, Riley. I want things to be okay with us. I don't want to lose you over something so...so...I don't know, trivial?"
"This isn't trivial."
"Yeah," he murmured with a heavy heart. "I know."
Silence followed. Riley wanted nothing more but to tell him he wasn't being fair to either her or Sirius, and even inevitably himself. She wanted to tell him that she wasn't going to allow herself to be put in the middle of everyone's friendships. She wanted to blow him off and show him what it felt like for a friend to turn their back on him. But she didn't do any of that. Because in the end, she really missed him, too. So instead, she said, "I want things to be okay with us, too."
His eyebrow arched. "Really?"
Slowly, she nodded, wondering how she was going to disclose this to Sirius. "Yeah," she muttered.
James nodded. "Okay."
"Okay," she agreed.
She met his gaze and saw him smile a relieved smile. She, too, forced out a smile. "So what do you think of my brother and your sister?"
James groaned. "Oh, Merlin, I thought we moved on from that topic!"
Riley grinned. "Well, get used to it. You're going to be seeing a lot of holding hands and sno-"
"I swear to God if you say snogging, I'll come over there and smother you," James interrupted, making a face.
Riley grinned sheepishly. "I was, er, going to say…er…sn…sn…snow angels!"
"It hasn't snowed in three weeks."
Riley chuckled. "Well I think it's cute. I think they'll be good for each other."
"Do you know what fifteen-year-old boys have on their mind?" James shot back. "Sex!"
"And that's why I think Drew will be good for Dezzy," Riley teased. She quickly rushed out of the chair when James jumped out of the couch and made a beeline for her, probably to strangle her.
"You take that back, Riley Gilmore!" James cried, chasing her around the room with a pillow.
The last thing the common room heard was Riley's laughter as she quickly scrambled out of the common room, James following close behind her.
Remus dragged James into his room under James' protest. "What is your problem, Remus? I was in the middle of trying to figure out when the hell I'm ever going to use Arithmancy in my everyday life."
Remus snorted. "Oh, I'm so sorry to interrupt such heavy thinking."
James scowled when he saw Sirius in the room. "I swear if you brought me up here for him, then I-"
"Everything doesn't revolve around the two of you, James," Remus scoffed, slamming the door behind him.
"Who crawled up your ass and died?" Sirius muttered from his bed.
"Well, I'm glad that I'm the only one who remembers what tomorrow night is," Remus growled, crawling on to his bed with a sigh.
James and Sirius scrunched their noses in a very similar way, trying to figure out what he could be talking about.
"I know what tomorrow night is," Peter chimed in.
Remus glared at his other two friends. "Well, I never thought I'd see the day: Peter is smarter than you two!"
"Ouch?" Peter murmured.
Remus shrugged. "Take it as a compliment," he suggested. "You're the only one who isn't so self-absorbed with his life and problems that he can actually think of others."
"Can someone please fill me in?" Sirius asked.
"Tomorrow night is the full moon," Remus snapped.
Sirius and James felt about two inches tall. "Oh," Sirius murmured, slinking down in his chair guiltily.
"And I don't give a rat's ass-sorry, Wormtail-what the hell you two are going through right now. I refuse to let you guys off the hook. You both are going to be there whether you like it or not."
Neither one of them spoke. It wasn't often that Remus scolded anyone and at the moment, James and Sirius were both feeling guiltier than they ever had before. Remus needed them and they were so involved with being mad at each other, they couldn't even take the time out to recognize Remus' situation.
"Tomorrow night is my night and I'll be damned if you two ruin it. No fighting, no squabbling, no mean looks, no name-calling, no insults, no hexing each other, no wrestling each other after transfiguring, no biting, no ignoring each other. None of that. You got that?"
They both nodded.
"And if you do anything to each other, I swear to Merlin I will rip a limb off your body and feel satisfied doing it."
They both nodded.
Remus smiled satisfactorily. "That's all. You can go now, James."
He sighed. "I'm really sorry, Remus. I-"
"I don't want your damned apology," Remus interrupted irritably, glaring at him. "I just want you to realize that we're still the bloody Marauders even with this ridiculous feud you two have going."
Sirius' heart skipped a beat as he met James' gaze. "I don't know if that's true," he muttered sincerely. "But we'll be the Marauders again tomorrow night for your sake."
Remus frowned. "I don't want you to do it for my sake," he said, his words strained with desperation. "I want you to do it because we've been best friends for six years and these full moon excursions are part of the Marauder tradition."
Sirius didn't respond.
Remus glared at him. "We have all been through so much together and you two are really willing to just throw all of that away? You're not the two people I befriended six years ago. You're acting like spoiled children. You're not acting like the guys who worked for three goddamned years to learn Animagus transfiguration because you so desperately didn't want your werewolf friend to be alone. You're not acting like the guys who were by each other's sides when one of our own brothers walked away from his family. You're not acting like the guys who let their best friend move into an already crowded family because his own family disowned him. You're not acting like James and Sirius. I want those guys back. Not the guys standing in front of me."
James and Sirius both looked at their friend in awe, sensing such pleading in his voice. "Remus-" James started.
"You can go now, James," Remus muttered, swinging his hangings closed immediately and crawling into his bed.
James snuck a peek at Sirius and was surprised to see him staring back at him. Neither said anything, too absorbed in pondering Remus' words to even attempt to form a sentence.
James slowly climbed off his bed, heading towards the door. His hand paused on the doorknob, slowly turning back around to face Sirius. "I'll see you tomorrow night."
Sirius could only nod.
The next night could almost be considered fun. Just like the days when the four of them would cavort around the grounds enjoying each others' company, frantically searching for new secret passages, chasing whatever creature would dare cross their paths in the Forbidden Forest, and going for a swim when it was hot out in the lake. Sirius and James kept their promise to Remus and avoided any situation that would end in debate.
Until the next morning when Sirius and James woke up just to realize that nothing had changed between them.
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed that chapter. Like I said, A LOT went on so I hope you're satisfied. Let me know what you think.