22: Now He Knows

The group were standing in the Entrance Hall with Peter after breakfast the day the other students were leaving for break. His parents had said no to him staying at school for break.

"I'm going to miss so much," he pouted slightly.

"It's not going to be that fun, Pete," Lily comforted him.

"Yeah, Lil and I are just going to murder the boys," Lexi smirked. "No need for you to be here and possibly get hurt."

"What did I do," Remus asked, appalled, while James and Sirius looked horrified.

"Not you, Rem," Lily smirked as well. James and Sirius audibly gulped. Peter cracked a smile finally. Once they said goodbye and he was out of the doors they began their way back to Gryffindor tower.

"So what's the plan," Sirius smirked, rubbing his hands together.

"Well, I think this castle has been a little too quiet past holidays," James got a wicked grin on his face.

"Well, I think we need to come up with the best prank yet," Lexi got a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Bloody hell," Lily and Remus groaned. They turned the corner to the Grand Staircase and were stopped by Professor McGonagall.

"And what are the five of you up to," she peered down at them suspiciously.

"We were just on our way back to the common room," James smiled charmingly at her.

"I'll be keeping my eye on you three," she looked at James, Sirius, and Lexi. "I expect the two of you to be helping me," she said, turning to Lily and Remus, both paled slightly.

"Yes ma'am," they muttered before she left.

"I swear if you three screw up me being head girl," Lily huffed, pushing past them.

"Aw c'mon, Lil," James whined following her.

"This is going to be a long break," Remus sighed.

"You're going to have fun, Moony," Sirius chuckled, clapping him on his shoulder.

"C'mon, lets go. I want to play," Lexi smirked and the three continued on the way.

"You want to play eh, Red," Sirius teased pulling her into him by her hip as they walked.

"My guitar, Black," she rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Just because I know doesn't mean I want to see you two drool all over each other," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, Rem," Lexi laughed. When they reached the empty common room Lexi and Sirius ran to their dorms for their guitars. When Lexi got back she pulled a chair over next to the fire.

"Lily wasn't in the dorm," Lexi chuckled as she situated herself.

"Her and James probably went off somewhere," Remus smirked.

"I wouldn't doubt it. How much longer do you think that one's going to take," she giggled.

"You're one to talk," Sirius said as he walked over.

"Says the pot calling the kettle black," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Huh," the other two looked at him.

"Nothing," he chuckled.

"You and Lily with those muggle phrases," Sirius chuckled. "What are we playing?"

"Follow my lead," Lexi smirked and began playing. He grinned when he caught what she was playing then began melding with her playing perfectly. He began singing first. Lexi vocalized.

S: My lover's got humour, She's the giggle at a funeral. Knows everybody's disapproval, I should've worshipped her sooner. If the heavens ever did speak, She's the last true mouthpiece. Every Sunday's getting more bleak. A fresh poison each week.

B: "We were born sick, " you heard them say it.

S: My church offers no absolutes. She tells me,

B: "Worship in the bedroom."

S: The only heaven I'll be sent to, is when I'm alone with you. I was born sick, but I love it. Command me to be well.

B: Aaay. Amen. Amen. Amen.

L: Take me to church-I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies. I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife. Offer me that deathless death. Good God, let me give you my life. Take me to church-I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies. I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife. Offer me that deathless death. Good God, let me give you my life.

As Lexi sang Sirius took over back-up vocals. Remus smirked watching the two of them smiling at each other as they sang.

L: If I'm a pagan of the good times. My lover's the sunlight, to keep the Goddess on my side. She demands a sacrifice. Drain the whole sea. Get something shiny. Something meaty for the main course. That's a fine-looking high horse. What you got in the stable? We've a lot of starving faithful. That looks tasty-That looks plenty-This is hungry work.

They switched again flawlessly.

S: Take me to church-I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies. I'll tell you my sins so you can sharpen your knife. Offer me my deathless death-Good God, let me give you my life. Take me to church-I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies. I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife. Offer me that deathless death-Good God, let me give you my life.

Sirius began to strum out a solo on the guitar.

L: No Masters or Kings. When the Ritual begins.

S: There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin.

L:In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene.

B: Only then I am human. Only then I am clean.

S: Ooh oh. Amen.

B: Amen. Amen.

S: Take me to church

L: I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies

S: I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife

L: Offer me that deathless death

S: Good God, let me give you my life

L: Take me to church

S: I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies

L: I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife

S: Offer me that deathless death-Good God, let me give you my life

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, how much longer do you think the two of you can keep things a secret?" Lily sighed as they got ready in the empty girls dorm a few days later.

"Who bloody knows," Lexi smirked. "James is going to catch on eventually."

"Just when is what you're wondering," Lily giggled.

"Exactly."

"But you two are like together? And it's been that way since October?

"Yes," she rolled her eyes, "that's what we agreed. I mean really, it's been that way since this summer," Lexi smirked. "Why don't we talk about you and James?"

"There isn't anything to talk about," Lily blushed.

"Keep telling yourself that," Lexi laughed.

"DON'T MATE ME," they heard below.

"What the bloody hell," Lily asked looking towards the door.

"LEXI GET DOWN HERE NOW," they heard a voice boom from the common room.

"What is his problem now," Lexi groaned and headed for the door.

XXXX

"Blimey I've been needing to clean this thing out," Sirius complained as he sat in the heap of clothes, school supplies and junk around his trunk on the floor of their dorm.

"I believe I told both of you to do it at the end of last year," Remus said lazily from his bed.

"We're doing it now," James threw a wadded pair of old socks at Remus from his position similar to Sirius. "Look what I found," James held up a piece of parchment with writing all over it.

"What is it," Sirius asked, dropping jeans into a pile on his bed.

"Notes between us from…" James squinted and read it some before laughing, "third year muggle studies." Sirius took it and looked at it as well. His handwriting was at the top of the paper.

Where did Lexi learn that pink hair jinx?

"Merlin, this is right after she had done it," Sirius laughed before handing the note to Remus who chuckled as well. "She had a month of detention after that," Sirius grinned. He kept looking at the notes. "It was also the second term. Listen to this," Sirius moved to sit on his bed as he read. "I put "She told me better days can't be far away", Prongs you wrote back that she was still being bitter. Oh here," Sirius started laughing. "We should raid the kitchens and cheer her up by drinking like there's no tomorrow," Moony wrote back "there's school tomorrow.""

"You both regretted it the next day," Remus chuckled.

"I think we went to Poppy after breakfast didn't work. Right, Prongs," Sirius looked over to see James, who had been strangely quiet, standing between their beds. His back was to Sirius but his head was looking down to the pile of clothes Sirius had just dropped there moments before. "You good, mate?"

"Whose are these," James had a grin on his face as he turned around holding a pair of red panties. Remus smirked and tried coughing to cover a laugh.

"Oh...uh...they're…" Sirius felt himself blushing as he tried to reach for the panties but James dodged him and jogged out of the way. "Knock it off, Prongs. I can't remember," Sirius tried brushing off and tried taking them again. James didn't let him again. Remus couldn't contain his laughter anymore.

"Why does it matter then," James smirked, jumping onto a bed as Sirius reached again.

"We're too old for this James," Sirius kept trying to get the panties from him.

"Just tell me who they belong to and I'll drop it," James laughed, still avoiding Sirius.

"You don't want to know, mate, now come on."

"Wait, what," James froze, giving Sirius the opportunity to tackle him and pry the panties out of his hand.

"Nothing, but it got you to stop," Sirius smirked standing up. Remus was still laughing madly.

"Why wouldn't I want to know," James asked suspiciously propping himself up on his elbows.

"It was just to get you to stop," Sirius rolled his eyes and tried to shoot Remus a look but James caught it.

"No," James paled and sat up fully.

"You're wrong whatever you are thinking," Sirius shook his head.

"You-those-you said…" he stood up slowly and paced for a moment before stopping.

"Prongs…"Sirius said cautiously. James was staring at the wall blankly as if his brain was processing.

"You might want to run," Remus mused with a smile after a moment of silence. Sirius waved him off.

"James, it's not what you think, alright," Sirius touched James' shoulder. James spun to face him. He was angry. His arm cocked back and he punched Sirius square in the jaw. Sirius stumbled back holding his chin and now bleeding lip. James gripped his fist and hissed.

"You bloody lied to my face," James yelled. "I asked you! You told me you hadn't! I told you Padfoot-"

"I haven't shagged anyone else," Sirius defended. James' face got redder. He took another step towards Sirius but Remus got between them.

"Move Remus," James growled.

"James, it's not like she is innocent in this," Remus spoke calmly. "It's not just Sirius' fault."

"Right, she seduced me first," Sirius grumbled from behind Remus.

"You fuckin-" James growled trying to lunge at Sirius but Remus held him back for Sirius to run down to the common room. James wasn't far behind him, Remus behind James.

"Calm down, mate," Sirius yelled jumping over the couch.

"DON'T 'MATE' ME!" James bellowed. "You shagged my sister! And have her panties!"

"James I don't-" Remus tried again.

"You're right Moony," James said angrily before going to the base of the girls dorm stairs. "LEXI GET DOWN HERE NOW!" He glared over at Sirius who was staying as far from James as possible. He could still feel his lip swelling and still bleeding.

"Why are you yelling," Lexi complained as she and Lily hit the bottom of the stairs.

"YOU TWO SHAGGED?!" Lexi's face paled and she looked over at Sirius. She saw his bruising chin and bleeding lip. Her face began getting red.

"You punched him," She looked at James angrily. For a moment his anger flickered away.

"Yes I bloody punched him! You're my little sister!"

"Merlin, James. This is why you didn't know," she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Who knew then," he asked, shocked looking at Lily. She blushed and looked away.

"Did you really not think my best friend was going to know," she rolled her eyes.

"Wait a minute," he said looking at Remus who also looked away. "You too?"

"No one else would go baccy about us together," Lexi glowered.

"Together," James questioned.

"Yeah, together," Sirius spoke again. "I told you it wasn't what you thought." James looked over at him slightly embarrassed.

"What even happened," Lexi looked between them incredulously. Sirius smirked and James blushed fiercely.

"Oh god..." James muttered sitting on the couch.

"Realize what you were playing keep-away with?"

"Yes, Padfoot," James cut him off, dropping his head between his legs.

"What happened," Lexi asked again expectantly.

"Prongs here found that pair of panties," Sirius smirked and winked at her. Lexi blushed once she put it together.

"Serves you right for being nosey," she looked at James who looked like he was going to puke.

"But the two of you are together," he asked weakly.

"Yes, Jamie," Lexi rolled her eyes. Sirius smiled at her but winced from the pain in his lip.

"Since when," he asked looking between them. Lexi and Sirius were looking at each other and spoke in unison.

"Since the summer."

"What," he asked flabbergasted.

"You overreact, Jamie," Lexi sighed. "Plus we kinda needed to figure it out ourselves," she gave Sirius a small smile.

"So you two have been sneaking off," James asked after a moment of silence.

"Yes," she rolled her eyes.

"Since at home in the summer?"

"Yes."

"How'd you-" his eyes drifted to Lily and his jaw slacked.

"Merlin, James, she's my best friend. She knew, get over it," Lexi defended before he could say something to Lily. "I never asked her to distract you purposely, we snuck off when we could."

"So this has been months," James' voice was turning from shocked to hurt. "You have both been lying to me," his eyes flicked between them. Sirius had remained quiet knowing better.

"James-"

"You know, I thought the three of us were closer than-"

"Don't even, Potter," Lexi snapped angrily. "Don't act like this is some big shock. You kept saying something was up with us, you knew there was something," she mocked him. "I didn't bloody tell you. That was my choice. This, the way you're behaving, is exactly why!"

"If you'd had just told me-"

"If we had just told you, "oi, James we're shagging because we each think the other is hot, and we are going to figure out our feelings for each other, friendships be damned if something goes wrong," you would have flipped shit too!" James' jaw was clenched and he was glaring at Sirius again. "We were figuring us out before bringing everyone in. It was a delicate situation, Jamie."

"I ought to bloody pummel you," James glowered at Sirius.

"Like I said she seduced me first," Sirius sighed. "I wasn't going to make the first move, mate. I didn't want to muck something up."

"Did you really have to put it that way," Lexi rolled her eyes with a smirk.

"To be fair finding your panties is a rough way to find out," Lily finally spoke with a sly grin.

"You should have seen his face," Remus choked back a laugh.

"Oh, I wish I had," Lily burst into giggles. Remus finally began laughing too, soon Lexi and Sirius joined in. Finally James cracked a smile.

"Look, Jamie, this is legit. Alright," Lexi smiled at him.

"Yeah, alright, but if he hurts you, I'm the first one you come to," he spoke sternly, shooting another glare at his best friend.

"I promise," she hugged him. "Now we," she walked over to Lily, "are going to finish getting ready." They were headed for the stairs when she stopped and looked at the boys. "No more fighting. My threat from last year still stands for this bollocks," with a wink she and Lily were out of sight.

"Padfoot-" James started warningly.

"I'm going to marry her, Prongs," Sirius cut him off. James and Remus' jaws dropped.

"What," Remus managed.

"Not now obviously. When we leave school," Sirius locked eyes with James. "I swear, mate."

"Okay," James nodded as a mischievous grin appeared on his face. "I was right."

"Alright, you two need to get ready if the girls are almost done," Remus chuckled rolling his eyes before pushing them back to their dorm

XXXXXXXXXX

"Well, that could have gone worse," Lily giggled once they were back in their dorm.

"Much," Lexi laughed. "Honestly, I feel so relieved he knows."

"I told-"

"I know."

"Are we going out in the snow," Lily smirked, going over to her drawers.

"I hope not, I don't really want to be in the cold," Lexi groaned as she pulled on a grey hoodie over her t-shirt. She grabbed her guitar and laid on her back on her bed strumming.

"What are you thinking about," Lily asked. Lexi sighed and sat up.

"I think I love him, Lil." Lily froze as she was applying mascara.

"Whoa."

"Yeah, and I think I want to tell him."

"Now?"

"No, but definitely while we are on break."

"Well, for now let's just go hang out with the boys. Oh, try to go easy on the 'affection' with James around, it will probably help." Lily grinned as she finished her make up.

"Noted," Lexi laughed. They made their way down to the common, the boys were sitting there laughing about something. Sirius' lip had stopped bleeding and he had cleaned it up, but there was still some swelling.

"What took you so long," James rolled his eyes when he saw them.

"Gossiping," Lexi smirked. She kissed Sirius briefly before sitting on the floor against his legs. James looked like he was going to say something but thought better of it.

"So what are we doing today," Remus grinned, shaking his head slightly.

"Cozied up here sounds nice," Lexi sighed as she played her guitar.

"We're a few days in and haven't caused any mayhem, Lex," James groaned.

"Thankfully," Lily gave him a warning look.

"How about we start with breakfast," Sirius suggested, leaning forward and rubbing Lexi shoulders.

"Perfect," James grinned, rubbing his hands together, "Great Hall or Kitchens?"

"Great Hall," Lily and Remus groaned in unison.

"You're no fun," James pouted as they gathered up and left.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"I've never seen the castle this empty," Lexi said as her Sirius and James wandered through the corridors.

"It's definitely perfect to not get caught," James smirked.

"Or more of a risk," Sirius added with this wolfish grin. Both Lexi and James stopped.

"We hope that means you're excited about the risk and not scared to act, Padfoot," James laughed.

"Of course it does. You two should know by now, the bigger risk the better," his barking laughter echoed in the halls.

"I got worried about you for a second, Black," Lexi laughed as well.

"I knew you cared, Red," Sirius grinned, draping an arm over her shoulders. James watched the two of them as they walked for a moment. He missed whatever it was Lexi said that made Sirius laugh but he was focused on how they were together. They both seemed truly happy. Which seemed like the first time in a long time. The three turned and began down another corridor when someone appeared at the other end.

"Snivellus," Lexi smirked. The boy at the end of the corridor froze when he looked up from his book. There was a flick of fear in his eyes before he tried turning around and walking away. But it looked like he couldn't move. James and Sirius looked over at Lexi whose eyes were glowing faintly.

"Lex-" James said softly.

"This prick put Peter in the hospital," she said. Snape was clearly trying to get his legs to work.

"Three against one then too, right Snivellus," Sirius smirked walking closer to the Slytherin.

"I guess you've got a point," James shrugged and moved with the other two. Snape went for his wand but it flew out of his hand the moment he touched it.

"I'll go straight to a teacher," Snape glowered helplessly.

"Oh don't go running the fun now," Lexi was still smirking.

"That's what he does best though, Love," Sirius was circling Snape like a predator.

"He's always been a little stoolie," James was glaring.

"If it gets you three thrown out-" His mouth kept moving but no sound came out. Sirius and James both looked at Lexi who was glaring, the faint glow in her eyes growing stronger.

"Look, Snivellus," she growled. "I didn't do anything when you called my best friend that filthy word. I didn't do anything when you said it again before the first match." James and Sirius' jaws dropped. With all the craziness after the match she hadn't told them. "But then you and your underlings attacked someone you knew was weak, when they were alone. It was a cowardly thing to do. Now you're going to face the consequences." she could feel power coursing through her but she had never felt more in control. She began to raise her hand but Sirius and James both stepped in front of her.

"Lexi, let him go," James said calmly.

"Why, do you really want me to," Lexi scoffed, now glaring at him.

"I don't think you understand," Sirius' voice was just as calm but his eyes looked worried. "Look down at your hands, love." She did and gasped. They looked like they were covered in glowing white gloves. She blinked quickly a few times and took a step back from them.

"You're mad," they heard Snape's voice. She looked at him behind James and Sirius. He looked at her terrified before running for his wand and leaving.

"Lexi, are you alright," James asked. She looked back at her hands. The glow was gone.

"Are my eyes-"

"They're back to normal too," Sirius said stepping towards her. She took a small step back making him stop. "Lex-"

"Just don't, please," her voice was shaky. "I-I need to go see Dumbledore." She turned and walked away quickly before either of them could say anything.

"That was new," Sirius said as she turned the corner.

"She had him glued to the spot and silenced him," James ruffled his hair anxiously. "She didn't touch her wand."

"She's gotten insanely powerful."

"But how much control does she actually have?"