Chapter 24: Opportunity Knocking.

It was Valentine's Day and everyone was buzzing with excitement, everyone except Sam. Sam walked down to the common room and saw Sirius sitting there. "Aren't you going to Hogsmeade?" Sam asked.

Sirius jumped in surprise. He looked at her and smiled. "I told James and Peter that I would wait for you. I hope you don't mind."

Sam smiled at him. "I don't mind. That was very sweet of you." Sirius smiled brightly in response. "I'm supposed to go with Lily. Have you seen her?"

"Yeah, I told her that we would meet up with her there."

She eyed him curiously. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I would think that you were trying to make this into a date."

Sirius sighed when she laughed. "I am."

"W-What?"

Sirius forced out a laugh. "N-Not a real one, of course. I just thought that since Remus is going with Hannah that you would feel better if you had a date. Even if it turned out to be pretend."

Sam gave him a tight hug. "You really are a great guy, Sirius."

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Later that night, Sirius and Sam were on top of the astronomy tower, looking at the sky. "I want to thank you for today, Sirius. I had a lot of fun with you."

Sirius put his arm around her and was happy when she leaned in close to him. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I wanted to make you feel better."

Sam snuggled closer to him and his heart raced. "You did, Sirius. I especially enjoyed it when you hexed Hannah. Seeing her flop around like a fish in the middle of Zonko's, that really made my day. I could die a happy woman."

Sirius' hands began to sweat. "Are you over Remus?"

"No, I still love him. I know a part of me always will."

"Then why did you two breakup?"

Sam sighed and moved her head to look at him. "Because it was the right thing to do. Remus wants to be with Hannah now and I want him to be happy. Even if it is with that cow." Sirius laughed. Sam smiled at him. "Our first Valentine's Day, he said he loved me. We had said it many times before but that night, I truly believed him. I felt it in my bones and in my heart. Our second Valentine's Day, we fought about who loved each other more. That's when I knew."

"Knew what?"

"I knew that we loved each other the same amount. I knew the feeling of truly being loved back. I felt safe and secure when he held me. Now, on what should have been our third Valentine's Day together, he is with Hannah and I'm with you."

Sirius scoffed. "Well, thanks a lot."

Sam laughed. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant that if he is happy being with her right now, then its okay that I feel perfectly content being with you."

Sirius couldn't breath. He leaned in and kissed her. Sam kissed him back for a moment before pulling away, laughing. "Are you drunk, Sirius?"

"I feel like I am."

She lightly pushed him. "Ass. Thank you for the kiss. I needed to feel better about myself. You really are a good friend to me."

She walked away and left him standing there. He felt like he couldn't breathe. He felt a pain in his chest and he had no idea what to do about it.

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The boys were hanging outside by the lake. They were laughing when Sam and Lily walked by. Sirius saw them and then all of a sudden pushed James, hard. "Oi, Padfoot! What the hell!"

"Lily's over there with Sam."

James looked over in their direction and smiled. He ruffled his hair before pushing Sirius back.

Sam and Lily saw the spectacle they were making and laughed. "James must have seen you. Did you see him ruffle his hair before pushing Sirius?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "No offense but you're brother is a prat."

Sam laughed. "No offense taken. He is a raging prat."

They saw Sirius smile and wave at them. They laughed and waved back just as James tackled Sirius to the ground. Lily smiled and looked at Sam. "Looks to me as if I'm not the only person who is supposed to be impressed by this display."

"What do you mean?"

"I think Sirius is trying to impress you."

Sam rolled her eyes and laughed. "Oh please. I'll admit that he has been acting strange lately but Sirius doesn't fancy me." Lily just smiled at her. Sam let out a slight sneer. "You don't think he fancies me, do you?"

Lily laughed. She was surprised by the look on Sam's face. "You don't want him to? This is what you wanted to happen since you were ten!"

Sam shrugged. "Well yeah, I did. Look at him. He is a great guy. Sirius is incredibly smart, fun, sweet, exciting, and I must say, gorgeous. Who wouldn't want him?"

"Then what's the problem?"

"Well, he's my brother's best friend."

Lily rolled her eyes. "That shouldn't matter. You dated Remus."

"Good point. Well, I just broke up with one of Sirius' best friends and happen to still be in love with him."

"Remus has moved on and is with that cow, Hannah. Why shouldn't you move on with Sirius?"

Sam smiled. "If I did all of a sudden go insane and agree to go out with Sirius, I wouldn't want him to be rebound."

"You'd have to be insane to date Sirius?"

"You have to admit that every time he has shown the slightest interest in me that he would all of a sudden stop and hurt me."

Lily gave her a weird look. "So, you deciding not to date Sirius, is payback?"

Sam laughed. "Of course not! I would never do that to him! I love Sirius, I really do but I need to concentrate on someone else who isn't someone that my brother considers family."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You need to move on from Remus."

"Who says that I haven't?"

Lily gasped in surprise. "With who? And, why the bloody hell didn't you tell me sooner!"

Sam put her hand on her heart and gasped in mock surprise. "Why Lily Evans! Such language from someone with such an innocent face!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up! Now, tell me everything, you git!"

Sam laughed. "Michael and Chris asked me out last night. I said yes."

"To who?"

"To both of them!"

Lily looked at her in astonishment. "You are dating both of them! Do they know what you are doing?"

"Yes, they know. I told them that I'm not interested in a serious relationship right now and just felt that openly dating would be good for me. They agreed to it. Michael was a little harder to convince though."

"You could include Sirius in all this. You never know, he might just want a fling with you like all his other relationships."

Sam shook her head. "If Sirius is finally showing interest in me, then he wouldn't want just a fling. He knows James would kill him if that was really his intention."

Lily sighed. "I know but you two are meant to be. Everyone knows it."

"Lily, give me a break! We aren't meant to be. I mean, I used to think that we were but I was wrong. I'm just going to be with Chris and Michael."

Lily sneered. "Really? You want to date them?"

Sam laughed. "I thought you liked them?"

Lily shrugged. "Chris is a great guy. I understand why you two would go with each other but Michael? Not Michael!"

"I thought you liked Michael?"

Lily shrugged. "He's nice enough. He is a really great friend to you. He just can be a raging ponce." Sam let out a loud laugh. Lily smiled. "Plus, you are meant to be with Sirius!"

Sam smiled and shook her head. "No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are! It's so obvious!"

"You know what's obvious, Lily?"

Lily narrowed her eyes and looked at Sam with a suspicious smile. "What is?"

"That you and James are meant to be!"

Lily surprised Sam by pushing her. "Take it back!"

Sam pushed her back and laughed. "James and Lily sitting in a tree…" Sam ran away and Lily chased her. They ran near the boys and were gasping for air as they laughed. "Lily loves James! Lily loves James!"

"I knew it!" They heard James yell.

"I do not! Get back here, you git!" yelled Lily. Sam and Lily fell down, laughing. "You know, you really are a git!" Lily said. All Sam could do was laugh.

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"Evans! Wait up!"

Lily was walking down the hall but stopped to turn around when she heard someone calling her name. She saw Sirius running towards her. "What do you want, Black?"

Sirius caught his breath and smiled at her. "I want your advice."

She eyed him suspiciously. "Advice about what?"

"I wanted to ask your opinion about me asking Sam out." Sirius noticed her purposely not look at him. He groaned loudly. "What's the problem?"

"She's already going out with…"

Sirius looked at her anxiously. "Who is she dating?"

Lily shifted uncomfortably. "Michael…and Chris."

Sirius looked crestfallen. "She is? Michael AND Chris?"

Lily nodded. "Yeah, she wanted to openly date. Sam didn't want another serious relationship for awhile so she could get over Remus."

He appeared to be offended. "Well, why didn't she ask me? I would have agreed to it!"

Lily rolled her eyes at him. "Would you now?"

Sirius grumbled. "Ok, I wouldn't have. I thought I made it quite clear that I was interested."

Lily sighed. "We discussed it. I made her realize that you have become interested."

"What did she say?"

"I want you to know that I tried to change her mind about Michael and Chris. I mean, Chris is nice enough and they are only dating so he can get over that cow, Hannah. Michael is just a ponce."

Sirius let out a laugh and nodded, but he couldn't be distracted. "What did she say, Lily?"

"I see I can't distract you. Ok, fine, I'll tell you. Let's just say that she didn't seem all that enthused. She did mention that she understood why someone would date you. Sam had so many nice things to say about you and she thinks you're gorgeous. I told her that you two are meant to be but she said I was wrong."

"Did she say why you were wrong?" Sirius saw how uncomfortable she looked. "Lily? What did she say? Just tell me, I can take it."

"She said that every time you showed the slightest interest in her, you would step back and then hurt her."

"Well, I can't deny that. I have acted like a prat where her feelings for me are concerned."

"Sirius? You don't just want a fling with her, do you?"

Sirius sighed. "This isn't like all my other relationships. I never felt this way about anybody else. You know what? I don't care if she is dating Chris and Michael. They will never last! I'm going to ask her out anyway!"

Lily smiled at him. "I'm glad to hear it. I hope she says yes! Just don't break her heart because you won't have to worry about just James hurting you."

Sirius hugged her. "I promise I won't. Thank you, Lily!"

Little did they know that Sam was staring at them from across the hall, scowling. She didn't understand what was happening. All she knew was that she was jealous as hell.