Sirius quickly stopped laughing as he smiled charmingly at Lily. "Hello, Evans."

Lily looked angry. No...Lily looked very angry. Even that was an face was red, which matched beautifully with her hair. Her eyes were practically slits.

"Don't try charming me, Black, it's not going to work." Lily looked thoroughly annoyed.

Sirius turned helplessly to James, expecting to see a lit up face (which meant "I have an idea!" in James-body-language) but was met by quite a shock. James was staring at Lily, his mouth open and moving, but no words coming out.

"Oy. You. James. Earth to James."

James turned. "Huh?"

"Snap out of it!" Sirius cried.

James shook his head, blinking. "What did I do?"

"You tell me, mate, is there something going on with you and Evans that we need to know?"

James turned bright red as he started spluttering, but Lily answered it for him.

"Excuse me? No. Stop wiggling out of the topic. I'll make this clear. You, James Potter, are extremely annoying. But that is not the point. Why are you getting Hogwarts so dirty? It's not like it was unintentional."

"How do you know that?" Peter asked, his voice a pitch higher than its already extremely high pitch.

Lily glared at him. "I was visiting a friend in Ravenclaw, and I was coming down from their tower when I saw mud on the ground. Way too much mud. Muddy footprints were practically placed on top of each other. Too much to be a little excess mud dripping on the ground. I followed it, and-"

"Which friend?" cut in James. Remus raised an eyebrow, shaking his head at James, but didn't say anything. Sirius smirked. He was going to have to tease James about this later.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Serilda. Why?"

"Oh, I know Serilda!" James said, a bit too much excitement in his voice than there should be when anybody claimed to know a person somebody else did. "She's really… erm… nice!"

Lily clearly saw through that in an instant. "Oh really? She never mentioned you."

Now Sirius found himself in a dilemma. Should he jump in and save his friend or watch him get humiliated? He chose the latter.

"Well, why would she?" James said, overloading the casual factor a bit too much. "Not like you talk about me much… Unless you do?" His excitement and hopefulness was clearly visible, but Sirius knew that Lily would shut it down in an instant. Then James would be upset, since he looked like he actually expected Lily to fall for it.

"No, we don't," Lily said firmly. "After all, why would we? We only talk about people worth being talked about."

Sirius looked over at James, smirking. James could be so pathetic sometimes. And well… Lily could shoot people down pretty quickly.

"Oh." James looked crushed. "So you…you don't like me then…? As a friend, I mean."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Give me one reason to, and I will."

"I'm… er… likeable?" James looked hopeful.

Sirius couldn't help it. He let out a snort, and James turned his way.

"What?"

"Oh, erm, nothing. I… Uh… I have dirt in my throat." Sirius sounded as convincing as James did right now.

James looked skeptical as he turned back to Lily. "Forget that. But er...am I-"

"You followed it, and then?" Remus cut in clearly, staring straight at Lily and trying his hardest not to look at James.

Lily tore her annoyed eyes away from James and looked at Remus. "It led me to you guys. I saw you purposely getting the floors wet. Filch is going to kill you!"

"He's a Squib, he can't hurt," chuckled Sirius. All four of the others turned to him.

"He's a what?" Lily asked, looking confused.

"A Squib," Sirius repeated. He looked at their puzzled faces. "You guys know what a Squib is…?"

"I do," affirmed James. "But… Filch is one?"

"Yeah. Didn't you know?"

"I've heard of the term somewhere," said Remus, frowning, "but I can't remember what it means. Is it an offensive term?"

"No," said Sirius.

"Are you sure?" asked Peter. "You didn't think the M- word was offensive."

"It's not offensive," sighed James.

"What's the M- word?" Lily asked. "Muggle? And what the heck is a Squib? And stop changing the topic!"

"It's an offensive term for muggle-born," Remus explained. "Not Muggle. It's really rude."

"It's got the word mud in it," Sirius offered, "and it has blood in it. It's saying you have muddy blood. It rhymes with trud-blood."

James shook his head. "Not cool."

"What's a Squib?" Peter asked. "My dad taught me when I was little. I don't remember, though."

"Someone who's got magical parents but doesn't have magic," said Sirius. "Like Filch."

"How do you know Filch is one?" James asked. Sirius smirked at Lily's face, which was growing more and more annoyed that the topic was changing.

"Parents," Sirius replied simply.

"This is all good and well," fumed Lily, "but that's not the point. You have to clean up all the mess you've made. Now!"

"But I don't feel like doing that," Sirius pretended to whine. "So… I think I won't. C'mon, Marauders, let's go."

And they trooped to their common room, leaving an irate Lily behind.

"We blew our chance making friends with Lily, didn't we," whined James.

"Why do you care?" shot Sirius sharply.

James and Sirius were in…

Detention. No surprise.

It had happened only ten minutes after they'd left the scene with Lily. It had gone something like this:

"Get this mud off me right now!" Remus ordered.

"Spoilsport," sang Sirius.

"It's disgusting." Remus had then put the charm and cleaned the mud off him, dousing himself in water. His hair was completely flat and pushed down. "This… is so much better."

"Can you do me too?" Peter asked. Remus quickly did the spell. "Oh, this is nice. Sirius, James, you should do it. The mud is itchy."

"The mud is itchy?" cried James. "Isn't that good for your skin?"

"Who knows what worms are in the mud?" joked Sirius. Then, Sirius and James found themselves tackling each other and rolling in the mud ("Are you pigs?" Remus had asked) they'd created on the ground.

"Get off the floor this instant." It was McGonagall.

James and Sirius quickly stood up. "Yes professor?"

"Detention."

And so here they were. Remus and Peter - lucky them - weren't in detention with them, since they'd both cleaned off the mud. And even if they hadn't, Sirius would've taken the blame. He knew how much Remus didn't like detention and getting in trouble. As for Peter… well… if he didn't have to go, Sirius wouldn't make him. But he would always make sure James landed in detention with him.

James didn't mind detention. He honestly liked it. The two of them enjoyed annoying the teachers together - it was so worth it.

Right now, they were sorting through dozens of boxes of different transfigured items.

"Professor McGonagall?" James asked.

McGonagall looked up, her features assembled in a very irritated fashion. "What?"

"Do we have to put the bottle caps in the jar neatly or messily?"

Her nostrils flared. "Neatly. I won't stand for any more stupid questions."

James nodded. "Received and understood." The moment she looked away, Sirius caught James's eye, and they sniggered.

After a few minutes, it was Sirius's turn.

"Professor McGonagall?"

Those two words were a warning sign, and she knew it. She merely jerked her head.

"How many rubber balls do we have to put away?"

"All the ones in the boxes," grumbled McGonagall. "Is this a joke?"

"Of course not, ma'am."

McGonagall seemed to consider saying something, but apparently decided against it as she turned back to her desk.

Five minutes had passed. "Professor McGonagall?"

"No."

"What no?" asked James, pretending to be sad. "It's a question."

She set her jaw. "What's the question?"

"Do I look okay?"

Sirius's head shot up. He hadn't expected this weird question, and clearly, neither did McGonagall.

"I don't think whether you look good or not really has an impact on how well you sort the stuff," she pointed out, her nostrils flaring. "Get back to work, and I don't want to hear a word out of you."

"Yes ma'am," answered James dutifully.

"Word," muttered Sirius. "Word. Word. Word. Word. Word."

James turned to him. "What on Earth?" he mouthed.

"She said she didn't want to hear a word out of us," Sirius whispered. "Too bad. Word. Word. Word. Word. Word."

"Word," said James, catching on. McGonagall looked up, and Sirius doubted she'd ever been more annoyed in her life.

"Do I need to put a silencing charm on you?" she demanded.

"Of course not, ma'am," said Sirius.

"Be quiet then!" she snapped. "Or I'll put you in another detention tomorrow."

Sirius smirked at James. Detentions were more torture for the teachers than they were for the Marauders. McGonagall would never dare do that. If she did, Sirius had a good annoying tactic up his sleeve which involved molasses, orange juice, and a very hideous mustache.

After twenty more minutes of torture - not for James and Sirius - McGonagall looked almost relieved to let them go.

"Out. Out. Now!"

"Yes ma'am." James paused at the doorway. "Can we come back tomorrow?"

"NO! OUT!"

James and Sirius left the room, sniggering and elbowing each other in the ribs. "You were brilliant," whispered Sirius hoarsely.

"I know." James grinned. "That was honestly fun."

"I know, right?" Sirius asked as they made their way to the Fat Lady. "Bubotuber."

The Fat Lady sprung open. "Come on in."

The two clambered into the Gryffindor Common Room, which was packed with kids - like usual - and sported a large ink stain on the ground.

"Did you really spread mud all over the floor?" a third-year asked.

"Er… yeah," said James, looking around. There were a lot of kids sitting there. Some were annoyed (Lily Evans), some were awestruck (the third-year), some were exasperated (Remus and Peter), and the rest were curious.

"Cool!" squealed a fourth-year.

"It wasn't cool," said a sixth-year haughtily. "I was trying to go to the Charms classroom and I tripped in mud. Flitwick told me not to go outside in the rain, and he didn't believe me when I said I didn't!"

Sirius and James burst out in laughter. "That would be wicked," James laughed.

"Oh trust me, it wasn't," said the sixth-year. She looked over at Lily. "Thank goodness she caught you guys."

"Whatever," Sirius sang. "You guys just don't have a sense of fun."

Sirius and James walked over to where Peter and Remus were, sitting by the fire.

"Hey," greeted James.

"Hi," said Peter glumly.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked, noting his tone.

"These people have been annoying us for so long!" cried Remus, setting down his quill. "They haven't stopped bugging us. 'Did you put mud on the ground?' 'Was that you who smeared mud all over Hogwarts?' 'You know, you shouldn't have put mud on the ground.' I mean, it's getting rather irritating. Peter almost blew a fuse."

"I did blow a fuse," muttered Peter, and Sirius followed his gaze to figure out that it was Peter who had made the large stain on the ground.

"Did you not… clean that up?" James asked.

"Never mind all of that," Remus said with a shrug, "how was detention?"

"Fun," answered Sirius, before he and James cracked up.

"Fun?" Peter repeated. "You guys are mental, has anyone told you?"

"Yeah, I think someone might have mentioned that," James said. That seemed to be his punch line for everything.

Remus rolled his eyes. "James, I have something to ask you."

James stretched. "Go ahead."

"What's going on with you and Lily Evans?"

James sat up in his chair immediately, looking alarmed. "Nothing. No, seriously. Nothing." He frowned. "Why do you ask?" His eyes lit up. "Did she say anything to you?"

"No," Peter mumbled. "Why do you look so excited about it?"

James slapped him on the elbow. "I'm not."

"I think I know why," sang Sirius, waggling his eyebrows.

"No, you don't," James muttered. "There's nothing to know."

"You li-i-i-ke her," Sirius sang, stepping up onto the table and extending his arms. "Hey, everyone! Get your attention up he-"

"Shut up!" James cried, jumping up and tackling Sirius onto the table. "I do not like Lily, so why the heck are you trying to tell everyone I do?"

James had Sirius pinned onto the table with one hand, and the other hand was covering Sirius's mouth.

"I will lick you," Sirius mumbled.

"You lick me and I tell everyone you like Marlene."

Sirius made a face. "Marlene?"

"Yep." James smirked. "Are you still going to tell everyone I like Lily?"

Sirius nodded.

"Too bad." James rolled Sirius off the table, and they both crashed to the ground, toppling over a bunch of chairs and books.

"Would you guys just stop?" James and Sirius turned to see Lily - oh Merlin, why was it always her? - and her friend Valerie both looking at them.

No surprise.

"We're trying to study," fumed Lily. "Would you keep it down?"

"Study?" Sirius made a face. "What's that mean?"

Peter burst out into laughter, but Remus looked slightly disapproving.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't expect you to know, as you're the one getting bad grades."

"Hey, Lily, that's not exactly fair," murmured Valerie quietly. "They get good grades, you know."

"Oh, thanks," said Sirius sarcastically. "Would the two of you stop butting into our business all the time? I don't know if you've realized, but this is the Gryffindor Common Room, not Lily's."

Lily's face turned bright red. "Shut up, Black."

"I don't think I'm going to," Sirius retorted.

"Okay, okay, guys, stop," Remus sighed, stepping in between them and extending his arms. "Evans, we'll try to be more quiet, okay? Sirius… apologize."

"But it's hardly my fault!" Sirius turned to Remus. "Remus…"

Remus sighed. "I know, but someone's got to pacify the fight."

"Oh, excuse me?" Lily tapped Remus on the shoulder. "Are you saying it's not his fault? It totally is. And his, too." She pointed at James.

James's eyes widened. "I didn't say anything!"

"You were the one being loud," growled Lily.

"Yeah, but I didn't even say a word to you! I didn't argue with you!"

"You were still being loud."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. Yeah, we were loud. These Marauders can be loud," - what? Why was James throwing him under the bus? - "a lot. I'll tell them to shut up. Are we friends now?"

"Friends? Of course not!" Lily flipped her hair. "You guys are so annoying! You act like children."

"You realize…" Peter snorted. "You realize we are children, right?"

"Peter scores a point," sang Sirius. Remus cracked a smile.

Lily flushed pink. "You act like two-year-olds. Happy?"

"Can two-year-olds play pranks?" Peter asked.

"Can two-year-olds do magic?" Sirius asked.

"I don't think so," Peter said, pulling on his chin. "I'm not sure, though."

"She probably knew," Sirius said, pointing over at Lily. "She probably memorized all the spellbooks before she was born. 'Teacher's Pet… Teacher's Pet… Nerdy old pet of a pet…"

Remus smacked his forehead. "No."

"Lame," agreed James from the ground.

"I'm just telling the truth," muttered Sirius.

"Guys, can we please just forget this?" Valerie asked. "Lily… Come on. This never happened. There is no conflict!"

"Oh, yes, there is," Lily said. "You." She pointed at Sirius. "Shut. Up. I'm trying to study. Look. I'm not telling you guys to stop doing whatever you're doing. Or to go somewhere else. All I'm asking is that you do it a little quieter. How hard is that to ask?"

Sirius turned to Remus, who shrugged. "Reasonable request."

Sirius let out a long, dreary sigh. "If you say so." He turned to Lily. "Fine. I'll do it. But don't think I always bow into your requests, because no." He smirked. "You might've won this battle, but I'll win the war."

Lily narrowed her eyebrows. "Is that a threat, Black?"

"Think of it as one… Don't think of it as one… Doesn't change the real meaning," Sirius sang.

"Okay, seriously, stop," Remus said. "We do not need a burn battle right now."

"Agreed," Peter put in.

Lily took a last glare at Sirius before she stalked off.

Sirius turned to Valerie. "Are you planning on going with her?"

Valerie bit her lip. "Yeah. Sorry about all of that, though."

"Uh-huh." James gave her a sideways smile. "It's okay. We'll be quieter."

"Like heck we will be," muttered Sirius.

"What was that?" Remus raised his eyebrows.

"I said, of course we will be."

The corners of his mouth twitched, but he didn't press the matter. Valerie left, and James turned over to the three of them.

"What was that all about?" he asked.

Sirius looked at his friend, resisting the urge to laugh. "I think I should ask you, my roadside lover." James opened his mouth to protest. "Seriously? Siding for Lily? What's even gotten into you?"

James's eyes narrowed. "Nothing has gotten into me." His voice was low, almost like a snarl.

"Oh really?" Sirius's grin faded as he realized that James had taken it seriously. Touchy about Lily, it seemed. "Then what's the deal? You sided with Lily Evans, a random girl who hates us, yet you love, over us. The Marauders."

"I didn't side with her over you!" James crossed his arms over his chest. "She has a point."

"What's her point?" Sirius spat, his temper rising up inside him.

"We were being loud!"

"We're allowed to be loud," Sirius retorted. "We always have been. Who cares if it's against the rules? We break them all the time!"

Remus and Peter were watching this exchange like a tennis match. Peter's eyes were wide and terrified, and Remus's eyes were slightly… scared? Why did Remus look scared? He

"I'm not saying we should stop breaking the rules," hissed James, his voice low. "I'm saying that we were being loud. People are trying to STUDY! Just because you don't care about your grades doesn't mean others don't."

"I don't care about my grades? I don't care about my grades?" Sirius repeated, taking a step back and knocking over a stool. He spread out his arms. "Wow. Wow, James, wow." He shook his head. "I didn't know you could stoop so low and accuse your own friend of that." He looked over at Remus, who was trembling, his eyes almost as afraid as Peter's. He took a deep breath, his anger softening. "Wow." And with a swing of his foot to the nearest chair, he dashed out of the Common Room.

Shoot.

Shoot.

This really sucked. He shouldn't have turned on James like that. His temper had always been too short for his own good. But now he'd done it, and probably scared off Remus and Peter.

"Ugh," he grumbled, kicking over a chair. "Ugh. UGH!" He ran his hands up his hair. Had he just ruined the friendship of the best friends he'd ever had?

"Sirius?" came a voice that belonged to Peter.

"I heard something from that classroom," a voice that belonged to Remus said, his voice growing louder as he came closer to the door.

"Open it," Peter suggested. The door was kicked open and Remus and Peter walked in. They stopped short at the sight of Sirius.

"Hi." Sirius's voice was calm and collected, which surprised him.

"Hi." Remus's voice mirrored his.

"Hello!" Peter's voice was an excited squeak.

"What's… wrong?" Sirius asked slowly.

"You left," Peter explained. "And so we needed to find you. Make sure you were okay. See where you were."

"Thank you," Sirius said. "I'm fine, though." He looked at Remus. "Are you okay?" He turned back to Peter. "And you too."

Remus looked puzzled. "Why would I not be okay?"

"Well, I mean, I blew up on James like that," Sirius said sheepishly, "in front of you. Aren't you kind of… spooked out? Terrified? Shocked that I'm capable of getting so angry and cold?" He closed his eyes. "I saw you and Peter. You two looked scared. You were almost trembling, and Peter, your eyes were really wide and scared. I felt bad. Why would you still want to be my friend after this? Aren't I not… capable?"

"Capable?" Remus asked. "Sirius, are you absurd?"

Sirius opened one eye. "What's that?"

"Everyone blows up at their friends sometimes," Peter said, shrugging. "I've done it. It's just going to make the friendship stronger. It's not bad."

"Yeah," said Remus. "What do you mean, we wouldn't want to be your friends?" He shook his head. "No, you've gotten something all wrong. I've yelled at people before-"

"Yeah. Right." Sirius snorted. "I believe that, because…?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "No, seriously, I do. It's okay, Sirius. We forgive you. James does, too."

Sirius's head jerked up. "Does he?"

"Well…" Peter looked uncomfortable, shuffling from one foot to another. "I don't know how much you want to hear this."

"What?" Sirius asked, his eyes darting from Peter to Remus and back.

"Well," started Remus, and Sirius's eyes flickered to him, "James is kind of mad."

"Really mad," Peter corrected quietly.

"Oh, great." Sirius dropped his face in his hands. "Why aren't you two with him?"

"We already talked to him," explained Remus. There was a pause. "Sirius, maybe you should apologize."

"Apologize?" he asked incredulously. "For what?"

Remus looked at Peter, and then back. "Didn't you just say you didn't mean to blow up?"

"Oh." Sirius's temper flew back inside him. So it was all his fault now. James hadn't done anything wrong. All that stuff about still being friends was a bunch of no good rubbish. "So James didn't do anything wrong?" His voice was surprisingly calm.

"Not really, no," Peter mumbled.

"What?" cried Sirius. "Were you there when he picked Lily over us?"

"He didn't," said Remus simply. "He just said she had a point."

"No!" cried Sirius. "You're not getting it! He said, and I quote, 'These Marauders can be loud a lot. I'll tell them to shut up. Are we friends now?' He was willing to completely put us down to be her friend! Well fine! They can be friends! See if I care!"

"But Sirius," pleaded Peter, "you said you didn't mean to blow up at him! So you're not mad."

"I didn't mean to get that angry," growled Sirius. "But more than that, I didn't mean to hurt you two!" He spit out the last two words, pointing at the two of them. "But it looks like you don't care."

"You're being kind of unreasonable," whispered Remus, and Sirius saw that he was trembling again. "We just want us all to be f-friends again. Don't you?"

"Of course I do, but does that mean I have to apologize for something I didn't even start?" cried Sirius. "I MEANT IT AS A JOKE, FOR MERLIN'S SAKE. A JOKE!"

Silence fell.

"It was a joke?"

"Of course it was," said Sirius. "But you know what makes me mad? I have to tell you guys for you to understand. Gosh! Just leave me alone!"

"But that doesn't make any sense," Peter said. "If you hadn't said it, how would we have known?"

"Ugh!"

"No, Sirius, wait-" Remus tried.

"No, you listen. Is James at fault any which way? Give me an answer. Yes or no?"

"Yes." Remus took a deep breath. "You started it. You led him down the wrong path, thinking the accusation was real. You didn't bother trying to tell him it was a joke-"

"Because he got all protective! That got me angry!"

"-and just kept going. He snapped back, of course, which was his fault," Remus continued as if there had been no interruption. "And yes, he did get a little protective against you, but I don't hold him at blame for that."

"Of course." Sirius had been trying for a snarl, but his voice actually came out shaking. Not with anger. With fear. His voice was trembling. "Of course you don't. And you know what the problem is here? It's not just that you like James more than you like me, it's because of my last name. It's because I am a Black."

He didn't stick around to see their faces. He knew it was true. He didn't know why he'd said that, but he knew that it was true. He grabbed his wand from the nearest wood table and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him with a large BAM.

A/N: Well... we can agree that was unexpected. What's going to happen? What are James's thoughts about all of this? How are Remus and Peter feeling, being caught in the middle of it? And how are they going to make up? So many questions, and plenty of answers are on their way!

Coming up in ch. 26: Remus's POV. Inside thoughts... private reflections... a talk with James... a feud with Sirius... lots of excitement coming up in the next chapter! Don't miss it!

Also, my sister and I are writing a Jily/Remadora epic! Anything you'd like us to add, write in, perspectives or ships you'd like us to put in, let us know!

Once again, thanks for all my AMAZING reviewers and readers - you guys are amazing! An air-hug to all of you. Please review, it makes my day! :)

With that being said - I'll see you in Chapter 26!