Author's Notes: This story is the effort of a group of dedicated Gryffindors, written for the house fan fiction contest at Third Floor Corridor. In this chapter, Tiffany and Pennilyn Novus were the authors.

While we wish Harry Potter belonged to us, we do not own him, nor the books, nor the movies. They are owned by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Books, Warner Brothers, and possibly a few others. No harm is intended, and no profit is being made.

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Chapter Twenty-Nine

The next morning, James awoke to the bright sunshine that was streaming through the window curtains.

What a beautiful day, he thought to himself.

Perhaps me, Sirius, Remus, and Peter can all take our brooms for a spin… Then, he remembered what had happened as he raised his hand to scratch at his neck and felt the bandages there. His pleasant, sleepy thoughts quickly dispersed.

All of the events of the past few days rushed back to him like a curse shot from a wand. He glanced over at Sirius's bed, seeing the curtains hanging open and the bed as unslept in as it had been the night before. James quickly dressed before waking up Remus and Peter.

"Guys!" he whispered. "Sirius still isn't back yet."

The other two boys rubbed their eyes and yawned.

"W-what, Prongs?" asked Remus, not quite understanding what James was saying.

"Sirius ... I think he's still in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He's probably been in there all night ... Do you thing we should go check on him? See how he is, and stuff?" asked James uncertainly.

"Prongs, he hasn't slept here in days," Peter complained, yawning widely.

"Yeah," Remus said, looking concerned, "but before, he camped out in the common room. He never spent the night in a bathroom before."

Peter frowned thoughtfully. "He might be sick, or maybe hurt."

James glanced at Peter, disturbed by the slightly excited tone in his friend's voice.

Peter continued, "I mean, who else stays in a bathroom – especially that bathroom – for that long?"

"Maybe we should just pop in for a minute and make sure he's still alive in there," Remus said, trying to sound like he was joking, and failing miserably.

Alarmed, James followed Remus and Peter as they trampled out of the Gryffindor common room, and headed for Myrtle's bathroom.


"Wake up!" came a sing-songy voice.

Sirius blinked as he felt cold water splash on his face. "Prongs?" he asked drowsily.

"No!" an outraged voice greeted him.

"Where ... where am I?" he asked wearily.

"You're in my bathroom," protested the same voice.

"Myrtle?" Sirius gaped, uncurling himself and sitting up painfully. He glanced around at the dank décor, feeling the now familiar misery settling anew into his bones. He was still in the bathroom, and they hadn't come looking for him. He had reckoned – well, hoped – that he and James would be close enough for James's concern to outweigh his anger. He supposed he was wrong again.

"You've been in here the whole night!" Myrtle told him excitedly. "You were talking in your sleep. Shouting things out like 'don't hurt him' and 'I'm sorry'. I tried to wake you up, but you just shifted and kept on sleeping."

"Has anybody been in the bathroom? Anybody at all?" he asked, hoping against hope that maybe they'd come and checked on him while he'd been asleep.

Myrtle began to look a bit miffed. "Of course! I have plenty of friends, I'll have you know. And they always come and visit me..."

Sirius looked at her in frustration. "I meant, did anybody come in here looking for me?"

"Oh, just be selfish. Just because I'm a ghost, you assume I don't have any friends? You assume too much!"

Tears began to well up in her eyes, before she began to bawl. She flew to a nearby toilet stall and dove into the toilet, sending a wave of stagnant water splashing onto the floor.

Sirius groaned. His head hurt and he was hungry. And nobody had come to look for him at all.

"I thought they'd be my friends forever. What happened to that?" he said sadly to himself.

"Maybe you should look for them, instead of hiding out in the bathroom."

Sirius jumped, and he found Lily standing at the door.

"What're you doing here?" he asked.

Lily stepped into the bathroom, and sat down next to Sirius on the dusty floor.

"I was getting a bit worried. I told your friends to look for you, but I'm not sure if they took my advice..." she said, biting her lip.

"Some friends they are!"

"Hey, you have to remember, you hurt them just as much as they are hurting you."

Sirius nodded, his head hanging. "I suppose..."

Lily sighed, pointing her wand at Sirius and quickly cleaning his robes. Businesslike, she said, "Why don't you just go and talk to them? After all ... they've been your friends forever. You have to get them to understand your side of the story. I know Sev – I mean, Snape – can be a bit of a jerk sometimes, so I sort of understand why you'd be so angry and upset at him," she said.

Sirius gave Lily a tiny smile, before getting up off the ground, and brushing off the remaining pieces of lint from his clothing.

He gave Lily a hand, and helped her get up. As she was about to lead him out of the bathroom, Sirius quickly gave her a hug.

"Thanks for caring about me, Lily," he whispered, feeling tears prickling his eyelids.

"I'm your friend, too," Lily said, returning his tight hug. Then she pulled away and smiled at him. "I can hear your stomach growling from here. Come have breakfast with me." She tugged on his hand lightly.

Feeling a tiny bit better, Sirius allowed Lily to drag him by the hand out of the bathroom, and down towards the Great Hall.


"I'm sure it's not what it looks like, Prongs," Remus said quietly as they stared at the map, at the two small figures of Lily and Sirius embracing in the bathroom. They were just around the corner from the bathroom, and it was all the other boys could do to hold James back.

Remus didn't want to believe that Sirius would compound his mistake by stealing the girl James liked, but then again, he'd never have believed that Sirius would have used him as a way to scare, or hurt, or possibly kill, Snape. Sirius clearly wasn't thinking these days.

"I'm going to kill him," James said, struggling against the hold Remus and Peter had on him.

"No, you won't," Remus said soothingly. "Because there's nothing going on. They're just two friends hugging."

James broke free and took off around the corner, and Remus and Peter rushed to catch him. But James stopped short in the corridor, his shoulders slumping. Remus watched in disbelief as Sirius and Lily walked toward the main staircase, hand in hand.


"And how do you know if you're being attacked by a vampire?" Professor Blinkerton asked the class.

James sat at the back of the room with Remus, who was studiously taking notes and keeping his head down. James stared straight ahead at the back of Sirius's head. Sirius was sitting three rows up, next to Lily.

Avery raised his hand languidly. "Because it's sucking your blood?" he answered in a bored tone.

Blinkerton cocked his head slightly to the side and stared at the Slytherin, a mixed expression of pity and annoyance on his face.

James waited for Lily to raise her hand, but she didn't. She nudged Sirius slightly, and he roused somewhat, shaking his head.

"Anyone else want to hazard a guess?" Blinkerton looked positively perplexed now. Normally, James and his friends, along with Lily, continually had their hands in the air. Normally, James found Defense Against the Dark Arts to be his favorite class. Normally, his former best mate wasn't walking around the school holding hands with James's girl.

She's not your girl, he reminded himself. But she should have been.

Blinkerton sighed and returned to his desk. "Is there something I should know about?" he asked, kicking his feet up as he sat down at the desk. "Has something happened that you would all care to discuss?"

Nobody said anything.

Without warning, Blinkerton raised his wand and pointed it at Sirius, saying, "Accio parchment!"

Sirius let out a yelp of surprise as a piece of parchment ripped out of his hands and flew to the front of the desk.

"Passing notes or taking notes, Mr. Black?" Blinkerton asked, turning over the piece of parchment and reading it. He was silent for a long moment, and then he glanced up. James didn't think he was imagining it when Blinkerton's gaze traveled back to him before focusing on Sirius once more.

"See me after this lesson, Mr. Black," he said in a tone that left James wondering what sort of trouble Sirius was going to be in now. Then he remembered he didn't care.

Just like he didn't care that the headmaster had decided not to expel Sirius, but had curtailed all of his activities and extracurriculars, as well as giving him weekly detentions with Filch until the Christmas holidays. No, he didn't care at all.

Especially not since he planned to kill Sirius for stealing Lily, first chance he got.


"Mr. Black," Professor Blinkerton said once the classroom had emptied out. "Am I to understand that you've had a falling out with your friends?"

Sirius slumped down in his seat, staring at the worn wooden desk in front of him.

"I'll take your silence, and your note, as a yes."

Sirius sighed and hoped the professor would just assign him punishment and let him be on his way.

"Sirius," Blinkerton said in an understanding voice.

Raising his eyes slightly, Sirius watched Blinkerton walk around his desk and come to a halt in front of him.

"I'll ask that you pay attention in class from now on," the professor said, handing the note back to Sirius. "We live in dark and uncertain times, and this knowledge could save your life one day."

Sirius nodded mutely.

"And I want you to know that my office door is always open, should you need a friendly ear to listen."

Sirius looked up, surprised, but Blinkerton was already heading back to his desk.

"You'd better hurry or you'll miss lunch," Blinkerton said, glancing over his shoulder with an understanding smile.

Sirius stood, gathering his books, and headed for the door. But he stopped just shy of leaving and turned around. "Professor," he said. "What if they never forgive me?"

"They will, Sirius," Blinkerton said. "I don't think I've ever seen such a tight-knit group of friends. They're missing you too, no doubt."