AN: Another chapter, gosh, I wasn't expecting to have finished it quite yet. Although it is 2am nearly and i'm tired so it may have many errors, for that I apologise. I adore Lily Evans, although she is no where near my fave (which is always Sirius) and here she shows just how nice she can be. Enjoy.

Chapter Thirteen

James flung the doors to the Hospital Wing open and strode quickly towards the only occupied bed that was surrounded by teachers and Remus and Peter, Lily was hot on his heels. "What the hell happened?" He asked the second he reached Sirius' bed side, he looked down at his unconscious friend and saw the bandages covering his arm and blood smeared across his face.

"It was Malfoy." Peter said in a low, shaky voice.

"Malfoy? He left years ago, didn't he?" James frowned until Remus took up the explanation. When James had heard the whole story he collapsed into a nearby chair in shock.

"How on earth did you get out of there alive?" He asked weakly.

"That is all thanks to Madam Rosemerta." Dumbledore answered, looking down at Sirius with a slight frown. "She escaped the bar through the cellar and made her way straight to the nearest post of Aurors who then alerted me. Boys, I must remind you once again that Hogsmeade is dangerous, I am going to have to cancel trips there now as it appears the Aurors are no longer enough to scare the Death Eater's off. Please, I beg you never to go sneaking out of bounds again or things could be a lot worse."

"Yes sir, I'm sorry. I should have stopped him." Remus replied looking incredibly guilty and staring down at his shoes. "I just thought that we could all use a break..."

"I understand the pressure of NEWTS Remus, dear boy, I just ask that you be more careful in future." He turned to McGonagall who sighed heavily and shook her head.

"In light of this offence all three of you will have fifty house points removed and detentions for a whole month, beginning Monday evening." She said sternly and followed Dumbledore out of the Hospital Wing. Remus sat down in a spare chair and looked at Sirius' sleeping form.

"I should have been there." James whispered, eyes wide and scared behind his glasses. "I should have known what would happen...he gets reckless when he's hurting."

"Hurting? What on earth is he hurting for?" Peter asked but at James' glare fell silent.

"It's not your fault, James, Sirius is his own man, he should have known better." Lily said softly, attempting to comfort her boyfriend.

"No. It is my fault. I was stupid and ignored what was staring me right in the face." James stood up, his hands balled into fists at his sides and a dark look on his face that made him look far older than his sixteen years. "I've decided." He said softly. "I'm going to stop those bastards from hurting anyone ever again, no matter what it takes." He shook off Lily's hand and strode back towards the doors. "I need some time alone." He muttered and left them.

Later that night he returned to the Hospital Wing beneath the invisibility cloak, when he reached Sirius' bedside he took the cloak off and flung it over the back of a chair before leaning over his sleeping friend and pressing a kiss to his temple, Sirius stirred and his eyes flickered open, a small, tired grin spread over his face as he focussed on James. "Mornin' lover." He whispered and yawned widely. "Mm, I could get used to waking up like this."

James smiled uncertainly before crawling into bed with him and pulling him into an embrace. "You're an idiot, Black. Do you know how worried everyone was?"

"Everyone? Or do you mean you?" Sirius asked, his lips inches from James' own and his eyes darkening as he ran the tip of his tongue over his own.

"Well, everyone was worried but I nearly had a heart attack when I found out you'd been attacked...Sirius, you should have kept your stupid mouth shut."

Sirius chuckled lightly, his fingers playing with a lock of James' hair absently. "My mouth does tend to land me in trouble, but even you have to admit it is a very talented mouth." His voice dropped to a husky whisper and he leaned towards James, their lips brushing but before he could actually make contact he was pushed away and James slid out of bed, turning his back. Sirius lay back with a soft sigh. "Sorry."

"No, I understand...It's just that I can't hurt Lily, she'd be-"

"I'd be what exactly?"

James almost leapt out of his skin, his eyes huge behind his glasses as he spun around to find himself confronted by Lily Evans wearing a small frown and her arms crossed over her chest. "I-I-er...I-don't...Lily...It's not what you think!"

"Right, so I imagined you about to kiss Black, did I? Come on, James, I'm not stupid." Lily sighed and sat down on the chair by Sirius' bed, she looked at him for a long moment in silence before speaking again. "How are you feeling?" She asked with what Sirius thought was genuine concern.

"As fine as I can be after being tortured by my cousins husband, Evans. Thank you for your concern."

"Er...Lily?" James began tentatively, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder, she turned and looked up at him.

"James, why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"That you liked men, that you're gay?"

Sirius snorted in wry amusement but stopped laughing when James shot him a disgruntled look. "I'm not, Lily, honestly."

Lily shook her head in exasperation. "I caught you trying to snog your best mate and you're still denying it? James, i'm ok with it! I honestly don't mind, what I don't like are the lies."

Sirius grinned at James who looked very uncomfortable, he watched his reaction curiously. "I swear i'm not gay, I like girls too." James said finally, running a hand through his hair and catching Sirius grinning out the corner of his eye. "Oh Merlin's balls! Why is this even happening?! Lily, I like you a lot but I also...I also like Sirius." He halted, watching Lily for a reaction, she put her hands in her lap and considered the two friends for a long time in silence before sighing heavily.

"Well, a part of me always knew that if I ever went out with you I'd also be dating Sirius." She muttered. "Mary warned me of this."

"Mary...Mary what?" James muttered in confusion.

"She told me her suspicions about you two." Lily clarified. "You two are unnaturally close, even for best friends. It was staring me right in the face and I completely ignored it. Right, well, I need to do some serious thinking, James, you need to get back to your rounds, McGonagall will be suspicious." Lily stood up and put a gentle hand on Sirius' arm, she smiled softly and did something he didn't expect; she kissed him on the cheek. "Take care of yourself, Black. I hope to see you up and around as soon as possible."

Sirius watched her go, his fingers touching the place her lips had been seconds before. James stood still looking utterly baffled, his face screwed up in confusion. "Am I...have I been dumped?" He asked blankly and Sirius shrugged.

"Nah, mate. I think she just needs some time to consider the situation." He said with a yawn, he settled back down into his pillows and closed his eyes. "Now, bugger off Potter, I want to sleep."

James smiled, leaned down and caught Sirius under his chin, he planted a gentle kiss to his lips and drew away. "Get better, Pads and don't ever scare me like that again."

"Yes, sir." Sirius replied sleepily, grinning despite himself as James swept the cloak back over his shoulders and disappeared.

XXX

The morning Sirius leaves the Hospital Wing, three days after the incident, he finds Hogwarts in a sombre mood. Tales of the attack on the Three Broomsticks are sweeping the students, more horror stories crop up in every news paper and magazine available. Children are seen crying in corridors because some relative had been killed, or tortured or worse. Tales of Giants and Inferi cause people to grip their wands in their hands even in the corridors, fights break out in halls and insults are thrown at every opportunity. The world feels as if it has darkened considerably, rumours are no longer just rumours and War has stepped right into the School. The children of known Death Eaters still at large are targeted by other students, animosity is rife between houses, duels are frequent sights within the once safe halls as people, scared out of their minds, start to take it out on each other. Sirius regards the slow collapse of order with a cold eye, Lily and James are at their wits end as they run around trying to put out fires and prevent casualties. Sirius knows that it won't be long before they too are dragged kicking and screaming into the terror, he has seen it happen before. He knows that soon people will begin to regard him with suspicion, he expected it to happen far sooner. His name is just as feared as that of Lestrange and Malfoy, he knows it and no matter how many times his friends laugh and tell him that the people in their house will never think he is a Death Eater prodigy, Sirius does not believe them.

Sirius' assumption is proved correct one day as he left the Dorm alone, he found himself confronted by a group of his fellow Gryffindors all looking as if they would happily hit him. He tried to ignore their glares and pushed past them but someone halted him before he could reach the portrait hole.

"Oi, Black!"

Sirius turned, raising an eyebrow at the fifth year boy who had spoken, he could barely remember his name. "Yes?" He replied icily.

"We've been talking and have decided that we're going to be keeping an eye on you, we don't trust you."

"Good for you. I'm late for breakfast." He turned and left them staring after him, he felt a pang of regret as he walked down to the Great Hall, despite the fact that he had been expecting animosity from his house mates, he hadn't been expecting the feeling of betrayal afterwards. He had known many of them for years, they knew his situation and they knew he had been disowned but they still couldn't see past his name. He was only glad that they hadn't decided to kick his head in, he had no wish to fight them. He found James, Lily, Remus and Peter all eating breakfast, he sat down at James' side and pulled some toast towards himself. He began to butter it with a frown, then spread some jam on it for good measure before taking a bite and snatching the paper from James' hands.

"Oi, I was reading that!" James muttered irritably. "I wanted to know how England's doing in the semis! Give it back!"

"They lost. They always lose." Sirius replied, smirking over the top of the paper at James who swore and threw a spoon at his head, Sirius vanished it absently with a wave of his hand and continued to read the newspaper. Lily goggled at him, her mouth hanging open slightly as she blinked. "What?" Sirius asked, peering at her with a small frown.

"You just...you didn't even use your wand!" She muttered in shock.

Sirius shrugged. "I can only do that with a vanishing spell, I've tried with others and its too hard. It took me nine years to do that much."

"Wow." Lily breathed, a small smile lighting her face. "So, being pureblood has its advantages."

"It's only because my mum forced me to use magic as often as possible the second I began exhibiting signs. I was beaten if I used muggle means." He smiled and returned to his paper, unaware of Lily's shocked expression, James put a hand on her arm to prevent her from asking anymore questions.

After a moment Sirius threw the paper back at James and stood up, "I've got to go to the library, anyone coming?" He asked and James stood up too, he leaned down and pressed a brief kiss to his girlfriends lips and hoisted his bag onto his shoulder. Sirius left with James in tow and they made their slow way towards the library, neither of them spoke for a long time until Sirius halted in a corridor. "Jamie?"

"Yeah?"

"Has Lily spoken to you about...about the other night in the Hospital Wing?" Sirius turned and looked at his friend nervously, James smiled.

"Yeah, she says she's still uncomfortable with the idea that I like you as much as I like her and she's unsure how this will affect us in the future but she's willing to give it go."

"But...but what does that mean f-for us?" Sirius took a step closer, his hands reaching out to take James'.

"I don't know. I really want this to work with Lily, if we continue doing stuff then I'm not sure if she'd be too happy about it."

Sirius sighed heavily and ran his hand through his hair, he frowned at a nearby portrait that contained a wizened old man and a woman with blond hair. "For the longest time I never even considered that you'd want me the same way I want you." He sighed heavily and bit his bottom lip. "I've been thinking and...and I'm not sure if I can stand by and watch you fall deeper in love with Evans, it's too hard. It hurts but I can't stop wanting you! It's fucking torture! James, you need to decide...me or Evans?"

James pulled his hand free of Sirius and his face twisted slightly in disgust. "I want you both."

"It's not going to work!" Sirius said desperately. "You can't have bot of us and if you keep this up you'll end up with neither." He paused and leaned against the wall. "Dorian asked me out, you know?"

"He-what?" James' eyes widened then narrowed. "Are you trying to make me jealous?"

"No. I'm being honest. I seriously considered saying yes, he's a nice bloke and has an arse to die for but...I turned him down. I said no for you, Jamie. Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm willing to wait for you for the rest of my damned life, even if it means years of unending loneliness and despair, if you tell me too I'd die waiting. I know that's not what you want for me." He said, forestalling James before he could interrupt. "But its how I feel. You are the only person I would ever throw everything away for, my future, my life goals, my happiness...my life. I want you to understand why what you want is something you can't have. I'm jealous, I'm possessive, I know this and it would end up turning me into a monster if you were with Lily and me. I would force myself into your life, take you away from Evans and your family if you had one."

James snorted. "No, you wouldn't."

"You don't know me at all, do you?" Sirius replied softly.

"I know you far better than you know yourself Sirius Black." James smiled and moved into Sirius' personal space, he pinned him against the wall and met his eyes. "There's enough love in me to share between numerous people, Sirius." Without allowing Sirius to protest again he leaned in and captured his mouth with his own. "You need to have more faith in yourself, you're nothing like your family." He whispered against Sirius' lips and smirked wider when Sirius pushed his tongue into his mouth with a loud groan.