Sirius Black was in the Gryffindor common room doing his Transfiguration homework. Or trying to do his Transfiguration homework. It was a bit difficult when you had gotten out all your parchment and quills only to discover that you'd left you Transfiguration book back in the library.
Sirius supposed that a house-elf would probably find and return it, but for now, he'd have to use someone elses. He leaned over and tapped James on the shoulder.
"James?" he said. James didn't move or take any notice of Sirius at all. He was too busy staring off into nothing with a weird glazed look in his eyes.
"James," said Sirius a bit louder. He banged his fist on the table in front of him. "Hey, James, wake up."
James jerked out of his trance and looked up. "What?"
"Can I borrow your Transfiguration book?" Sirius asked. "I left mine behind in the library."
"Yeah, sure," James said. He pulled his Transfiguration book from the pile on his table, handed it to Sirius, then went back to staring into empty space.
Sirius took the book, shaking his head. His best friend just got weirder every day.
He opened the book to the contents page and was about to flip on to Human Transfiguration when an inscription on the inside cover caught his eye.
J.P
luvs
L..E
forever.
Sirius frowned as he looked at the message, tapping his quill on his parchment but not writing anything. So James was in love. Okay, fine. That would probably explain the airy-fairy way he had been acting lately. But who was L.E?
Sirius surveyed the common room, searching for someone who began with an L. Not Adele Parker or Janice Mitchell or Jennifer McPhail of Mary-Ann Kennerly...
No one. Some maybe she wasn't in Gryffindor after all but in Ravenclaw or something. Sirius glanced at his best friend who was still staring at the back of the room like there was no tomorrow. Maybe she's that Ravenclaw Prefect, Sirius thought as he followed James' gaze to the far side of the common room. Leanne whats-her-name. Or maybe that new Hufflepuff Seeker...
His thoughts died as soon as he saw exactly what James was staring at. He hadn't been staring at nothing after all. He had been staring at a small figure with red hair who curled up in an armchair in the furthest corner of the common room, stroking her cat and reading. Lily Evans.
No way. Not her. He couldn't possibly be falling for that loner. Could he?
On the other hand, her last name might not be Evans, Sirius thought quickly. It could be something else. Ellis... no, that still ends with E. Peterson or Davis or something like that?
Yeah, Davis, Sirius decided. Lily Davis. That's what her name is.
He went back to James' Transfiguration book, now fully confident that James wasn't in love with Lily Evans, and turned the page. On this particular page, James had written Lily Evans in huge letters and surrounded the name by about a million hearts.
Sirius slammed the book shut, not wanting to see anymore. He was in such a crappy mood all of a sudden. He didn't know why, he just was.
He three down his quill and dropped the book with a crash in front of James. James jumped and looked up. "Hey, where are you going?" he said in surprise as Sirius began stomping up the stairs to the boy's dormitory.
"To bed," Sirius said shortly.
"Oh," James said, then turned his head and went back to gazing at Lily.
Back in the dormitory, Sirius flopped down on his bed and drew the curtains around him. He didn't know why he felt so furious all of a sudden.
Yes, you do, said a little voice in his head. You're jealous.
"Am not," Sirius muttered, throwing a pillow across to the other side of his bed.
But that wasn't quite true. Sirius had been James' best friend since the second they had met on the Hogwarts Express. They were inseparable and he certainly didn't want to share her with some stupid *girl*.
"Oh, shut up," said Sirius tiredly and buried his head under his remaining pillows in an effort to block his thoughts. It worked fairly well, but still, the very ugly thought that Lily Evans might replace him as James' best friend still haunted him.
*****
The next day Sirius and Remus were sitting underneath the big oak tree in the school gardens. Or rather, Remus was sitting underneath it studying and Sirius was climbing around in the branches above him.
"Moony," he said. "Can I ask you something?"
"I suppose," Remus said, not looking up from the book he was leafing through. He looked pale and tired and dark shadows circled his eyes, the result from late night studying under the blankets to catch up on missed chapters.
Sirius began swinging himself up onto higher branches. "Suppose that one of us--me, you, James or Peter, I mean-- kind of, um... you know, fell in love."
Remus looked up. "Who are you in love with?" he asked curiously.
"No, not me," Sirius said quickly. He settled himself of a broad branch directly above Remus's head. "I was talking about... someone else."
"James?"
"How'd you know?"
"Well I know I'm not in love, and if you're not either than that only leaves one other person."
"What about Peter?"
"Could you imagine Peter in love?"
"Mm... good point. Anyway, supposing James fell in love... how would you feel?"
"I don't know." Remus glanced back up at Sirius. "Who's he in love with anyway?"
"Nobody."
"Yeah, that makes a lot of sense."
"No, seriously, she is nobody. Do you know who Lily Evans is?"
"No."
"See? She's nobody."
Remus rolled his eyes. "Just because I don't know her it doesn't mean no one else does."
Sirius leaned against the trunk and looked up at the sky. "Girls suck," he said. "We don't need them, do we Moony? They can all drop dead for all I care."
"I seem to remember you chasing after a certain Kayleen Miller in our sixth year," Remus pointed out.
Sirius winced at the memory. "That was different. I was young and stupid back then."
"Now you're just stupid."
"Very funny, Moony." Sirius sighed. Less than twenty-four hours ago he'd been a normal, happy seventeen-year-old with a normal, happy seventeen-year-old best friend, and a not-so-normal, but happy werewolf for his other best friend. Now he was a confused, crazy-jealous seventeen-year-old who had a girl-obsessed best friend who happened to be in love with the world's biggest cat loving loser.
This was all Lily's fault. If she hadn't come on the scene he'd still have his best friend acting normally.
"This is stupid," Sirius muttered, jumping down from the tree. "I don't know why he had to fall in love anyway."
"What is it with you and this Lily girl, anyway?" Remus asked. "What've you got against her?"
"I never said I had anything against her," Sirius said. "It's just..." his voice trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence.
"You're jealous, aren't you?" Remus said, realizing for the first time. "You're scared that James will replace you with her."
"I am not," Sirius snapped. "You can't tell me what I'm feeling."
"Yes, I can," Remus said.
"Tell me then, smarty."
"You're jealous. You think that Lily's going to be the number one person in his life now, you're scared that you're going to lose him as your best friend and you don't want to share him with anyone he might fall in love with because you think he'll start drifting further and further away from you," said Remus smartly, shutting his book. "See? I'm not as stupid as you think. I'm right aren't I?"
Sirius just sat there with his mouth hanging open. Just when you thought you knew everything there was to a person, they'd go and surprise you with something else.
"That's not true," he said. "I'm not jealous."
"What is it then?"
"It's..." For the second time in less than ten minutes, Sirius found himself unable to finish off a sentence. To his relief, he saw James heading up the hill towards them. "Oh, look," Sirius said. "Here comes lover boy himself."
Remus turned quickly. James approached them looking unusually more like himself and less like the weird way he had been acting lately.
"Hi," James said.
"Hi," Sirius and Remus both said at the same time. They watched with interest as James began to pace in front of them. He sat down, stared at the ground for about two seconds, then got up and started pacing again.
"Guys," he suddenly burst out. "I've got something to tell you."
"It's okay," Remus said kindly. "We already know."
"You're in love," Sirius said. "With Lily Evans."
He looked up in surprise. "How'd you know?"
"Divination," Sirius said. "Trelawney's rubbing off on us."
"Funny, ha ha. How did you know?"
"We just figured in out from the weeeeeeird way you've been acting lately and the way you've been obsessing over her in the common room every night."
James blushed. "I do not obsess over her."
"Yes, you do."
"Whatever.... anyway, I asked her if she wanted to meet you guys in the common room tomorrow night."
"Why?"
"Well, she's kind of shy and doesn't have that many friends..."
"No friends, you mean," Sirius muttered. He winced as Remus trod heavily on his foot. "Ouch."
"We'll be there," he said. "Me and Sirius both."
James looked relieved. "Good," he said. "And remember, she gets scared kind of easily so can you act...."
"Normally?" Remus said. "Yeah, we can do that."
"Okay, thanks," James said. "I'll see you later, then. I've got Quidditch practice." He hurried off towards the broom shed.
"What was that for?" Sirius asked once James was out of ear shot, rubbing his toe.
"Sorry," Remus apologized. "I thought you were going to say something stupid."
"Me?" Sirius looked innocent. "Say something stupid?"
Remus rolled his eyes. "Let's go into the castle," he said. "I want to see what this Lily girl looks like."
*****
"Sirius, don't say anything dumb," James said, chewing on his lip nervously. 'Don't make her nervous. Act normal. You know she..."
"...gets scared very easily," Sirius finished off for him. "Honestly, James, you've told me about a million times. I won't do anything stupid."
"Stupid?" James suddenly looked panicked. "Crazy and weird I thought about, but I didn't think of stupid."
"It's okay, Prongs." Remus looked very calm in comparison to his friend. "Just bring her over and we'll meet her."
"Right," James said, nodding. "I can do that." He pushed his hair back, straightened his shoulders, and walked over to get Lily. Remus looked at Sirius.
"You aren't going to do anything stupid, are you?" he asked.
"Me?" said Sirius, trying to look innocent and failing. "Of course not."
"I know you don't like her," Remus said. "So I have my suspicions..."
"I never said I didn't like her," Sirius said. "I just don't want her being... so close to James, that's all."
"Uh, yeah, whatever," Remus said. "Look, here they come now..."
Sirius glanced up. James was leading Lily over, looking unusually nervous. Lily was half hidden behind her red hair, Sirius could just make out a pair of glowing green eyes looking out from beneath it. A small brown kitten was trailing along behind them. They stopped when they reached them.
"Lily," James said. "This is Remus and Sirius. You guys, this is Lily."
Lily peered out from behind her curtain of red hair and gave them a small, uncertain smile. "Hi," she said.
Remus smiled back. "Hi," he said.
Sirius didn't say anything. I can't believe James actually likes this red-haired midget, he thought. Remus kicked him in the shin.
"Ouch.... oh, what? I mean, hi," Sirius said quickly. "Nice day, isn't it?"
This brilliant comment earned him another kick in the shins from Remus. "The day's over," Remus muttered from the corner of his mouth. "It's eight o'clock at night, remember?"
"Oh, yeah," Sirius said. "I meant, nice night, isn't it? Ha, ha, HA."
His last 'ha' came out as slightly hysterical. He looked at James who was staring daggers at him. Sirius figured he'd better keep his mouth shut for a while and let them talk amongst themselves and forget about him for a bit... James started up a conversation and Remus joined in. Sirius noticed that Lily didn't talk very much, only a few words and only when she was asked... what on earth did James see in her?
Ho, hum. The night was getting very boring. His eyes wandered and rested on the cat that was hovering around near Lily's feet. He bent down to scratch it.
"Hey, kitty," he murmured, reaching over to stroke it. The cat glared fiercely at him as his hand drew closer and closer.... finally, after it was about an inch from its nose, the cat suddenly gave a loud hiss and bit down on it.
"OW! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Sirius shrieked as he lifted his arm up and tried to shake the kitten off. "Get *off* you stupid animal!" He gave one particularly violent swing of his arm and Fluffer McKitty went flying off.
"Kitty!" Lily shrieked as she went sailing into air. She landed with a thump on the rug in front of the common room fire and scampered up the wall and on to the curtain rod where she sat hissing and refusing to come down. Immediately, a bunch of Gryffindors surrounded the curtains, all yelling and screaming advice on how to get her back down to safety.
Lily shrieked again and ran over to try and rescue her cat. James glared at Sirius fiercely before he went after her. "Now you've done it," he said as he went off. Remus looked at him, shook his head, then ran off to join them.
Great, thought Sirius fiercely as he nursed his bleeding hand. Two weeks into a relationship and James already cares more about her than he does for his best friend who he's known for almost seven years, mind you, and Remus has only known her for about thirty seconds and he's running off after her too...
Sirius scowled as he went stomping up the stairs to his dormitory. It just seemed incredibly unfair. Here he was, practically bleeding to death and no one was there to help him out. Lily was Muggle-born. Now he probably had one of those Muggle diseases he had learnt about in Muggle Studies... he ran through them in his head. Rabies, Hepatitis B, AIDS, Chicken Pox, Tonsillitis, Scarlet Fever, Strep Throat, Amnesia, Lung Cancer.... yeah, I probably have Lung Cancer, he thought, flopping down on his bed. Lung Cancer was supposed to be fatal. He'd probably die of Lung Cancer within the next five minutes and James' last words to him would have been, "Now you've done it."
Sirius sighed and turned over. He wished he would die. At least then James would be sorry that he chose Lily Evans over him.
*****
Breakfast the next day was not a very enjoyable meal. Both Sirius and James were furious at each other, James because Sirius had ruined his introduction-to-Lily evening and Sirius because James hadn't come to see if he were okay after his hand had gotten ripped open. They stared stonily at the walls beyond each others shoulder and refused to speak to each other.
Remus sighed. He couldn't believe his friends were acting so childishly. He figured he had better tell James what was going on with Sirius before their friendship ended for good.
"James," Remus said. "Let's leave for Charms early. I want to show you something."
"Okay," James said, carefully avoiding Sirius' eyes.
Sirius watched as they walked out of the room. I want the old James back, he thought with a pang.
*****
It was the end of the day and Sirius was feeling horrible. What kind of a best friend am I, anyway? he thought to himself as he walked back from Transfiguration, his last class for the day. I meet James' new girlfriend for the first time and the first thing I do is throw her cat up a curtain rod.
He shook his head in disgust. He made himself want to throw up sometimes. He most desperately wanted to make up with James again but didn't know how to say sorry...
On the other hand, why didn't he just say sorry? It would save a lot of boring days without James, Remus wasn't exactly the most exciting person on earth when all he had time for these days was to study, study, study. If he just said sorry maybe he and James could be friends again... and his hand wasn't that big a deal, it was only a scratch really...
He was heading towards the Grand Hall for tea but changed his mind at the last minute and went out into the grounds instead. James should be coming back from Quidditch practice around now... Sirius glanced around, looking for him. Maybe he was at the broomshed.
Sirius began making his way over, humming as he did so. It was nice thinking that he and James would be friends again soon, he reached the broomshed peered around it, and saw a sight that stopped him in his tracks. Funny, he didn't know why it took him by such complete surprise. He'd already known James was in love with Lily for days now, and all loving couples kiss occasionally...
The were standing behind the broomshed, James with his arms around her waist and Lily with her arms around his neck kissing like there was no tomorrow. And I thought Lily was a good girl, Sirius found himself thinking as he watched in facination. They'd probably both die of suffocation and find them selves reincarnated into leeches, still sucking each other... Then he seemed to realize exactly what he was doing and exactly what he was thinking, and turned away, embarrassed that it had taken him so long to react.
The first thing he did was walk to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and punch the nearest tree he could find as hard as he could. It hurt, but the pain made him feel better somehow. It was almost like he deserved it, all the jealousy he had been feeling lately... He sat down on a rock, nursed his bleeding hand, and tried to sort out his feelings, one by one.
Part of it was definitely jealously. He and James had been friends for years and years now, and he certainly didn't want to share him with some girl who had suddenly popped onto the scene out of nowhere. He liked it the way it had always been, him and James flirting a bit with the girls that chased after him after Quidditch practice but not getting seriously involved with anyone, except when he had tried chasing after Kayleen Miller that one time and had fallen flat on his face.... and the less said about that the better, he thought.
Okay, so there was jealousy. The rest of what he was feeling would have to be loneliness... James didn't have a whole lot of time to spend with his friends now that he had a girlfriend, and hanging out with Remus just wasn't the same as hanging out with James... Remus was too busy studying to catch up with the rest of the class and didn't have time to play pranks and things the way James and he always did...
Crap. Sirius got up off the rock and began making his way back to the castle, his messed up thoughts still lying in a tangled mess in his head.
*****
Sirius was in the common room, staring absently at the wall. He didn't know what he should do. Apologize to James? Wait for him to apologize first? Kill Lily....nah. She really wasn't that bad...
Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around. James was standing behind him with a very sorry look on his face.
"Sirius, I just want to say..." he began.
"I'm sorry," they both said at the same time.
"For being a jerk," Sirius said.
"For not paying much attention to you," said James. He risked a half-smile. "Remus told me about... you know. The way you've been feeling lately."
"I'm sorry," Sirius said again, looking at the ground.
"It's okay," James said. "It was my fault too. I should have talked to you more... understood. Anyway, I figured we could make a new start. Get you introduced to Lily again and stuff."
Sirius considered, then nodded. "That sounds pretty good."
"Okay." James looked around him and waved someone over. Then he took a deep breath. "Sirius, meet my girlfriend.....Lily Evans," he said.
Sirius looked at her and smiled.
"Hi," he said.
********************************************************************************
A/N: AGHGHGHGHGHGH! I'm so hot! I feel like sticking an ice bucket over my head and leaving it on there for a week. Anyway, this is pretty short... sorry. Too hot to write much more. I promise the next part won't take two months to write. And thanx for the reviews. Esp. Ali, Hermione Black (did you change your name???), Amethyst, bunny chan, Nice, Mezza, Immortal Mage, Padfoot's Gal, Serra, Sleeping Beauty and anyone else who's reviewed a lot of my stories...........um.......... i've forgotten a few people. hit me if i forgot you or better still, e-mail me so i can thank u in the next one!
And a few cluey people realised i made a mistake in the first part--Lily got the earrings for her birthday. oops. i might change but probably won't, too lazy ^^
anyway, i think that's all i want to say. this is probably the last part u'll see before christmas so merry x-mas and may all your wierd and wonderful dreams come true. laters, and review.
Sirius supposed that a house-elf would probably find and return it, but for now, he'd have to use someone elses. He leaned over and tapped James on the shoulder.
"James?" he said. James didn't move or take any notice of Sirius at all. He was too busy staring off into nothing with a weird glazed look in his eyes.
"James," said Sirius a bit louder. He banged his fist on the table in front of him. "Hey, James, wake up."
James jerked out of his trance and looked up. "What?"
"Can I borrow your Transfiguration book?" Sirius asked. "I left mine behind in the library."
"Yeah, sure," James said. He pulled his Transfiguration book from the pile on his table, handed it to Sirius, then went back to staring into empty space.
Sirius took the book, shaking his head. His best friend just got weirder every day.
He opened the book to the contents page and was about to flip on to Human Transfiguration when an inscription on the inside cover caught his eye.
J.P
luvs
L..E
forever.
Sirius frowned as he looked at the message, tapping his quill on his parchment but not writing anything. So James was in love. Okay, fine. That would probably explain the airy-fairy way he had been acting lately. But who was L.E?
Sirius surveyed the common room, searching for someone who began with an L. Not Adele Parker or Janice Mitchell or Jennifer McPhail of Mary-Ann Kennerly...
No one. Some maybe she wasn't in Gryffindor after all but in Ravenclaw or something. Sirius glanced at his best friend who was still staring at the back of the room like there was no tomorrow. Maybe she's that Ravenclaw Prefect, Sirius thought as he followed James' gaze to the far side of the common room. Leanne whats-her-name. Or maybe that new Hufflepuff Seeker...
His thoughts died as soon as he saw exactly what James was staring at. He hadn't been staring at nothing after all. He had been staring at a small figure with red hair who curled up in an armchair in the furthest corner of the common room, stroking her cat and reading. Lily Evans.
No way. Not her. He couldn't possibly be falling for that loner. Could he?
On the other hand, her last name might not be Evans, Sirius thought quickly. It could be something else. Ellis... no, that still ends with E. Peterson or Davis or something like that?
Yeah, Davis, Sirius decided. Lily Davis. That's what her name is.
He went back to James' Transfiguration book, now fully confident that James wasn't in love with Lily Evans, and turned the page. On this particular page, James had written Lily Evans in huge letters and surrounded the name by about a million hearts.
Sirius slammed the book shut, not wanting to see anymore. He was in such a crappy mood all of a sudden. He didn't know why, he just was.
He three down his quill and dropped the book with a crash in front of James. James jumped and looked up. "Hey, where are you going?" he said in surprise as Sirius began stomping up the stairs to the boy's dormitory.
"To bed," Sirius said shortly.
"Oh," James said, then turned his head and went back to gazing at Lily.
Back in the dormitory, Sirius flopped down on his bed and drew the curtains around him. He didn't know why he felt so furious all of a sudden.
Yes, you do, said a little voice in his head. You're jealous.
"Am not," Sirius muttered, throwing a pillow across to the other side of his bed.
But that wasn't quite true. Sirius had been James' best friend since the second they had met on the Hogwarts Express. They were inseparable and he certainly didn't want to share her with some stupid *girl*.
"Oh, shut up," said Sirius tiredly and buried his head under his remaining pillows in an effort to block his thoughts. It worked fairly well, but still, the very ugly thought that Lily Evans might replace him as James' best friend still haunted him.
*****
The next day Sirius and Remus were sitting underneath the big oak tree in the school gardens. Or rather, Remus was sitting underneath it studying and Sirius was climbing around in the branches above him.
"Moony," he said. "Can I ask you something?"
"I suppose," Remus said, not looking up from the book he was leafing through. He looked pale and tired and dark shadows circled his eyes, the result from late night studying under the blankets to catch up on missed chapters.
Sirius began swinging himself up onto higher branches. "Suppose that one of us--me, you, James or Peter, I mean-- kind of, um... you know, fell in love."
Remus looked up. "Who are you in love with?" he asked curiously.
"No, not me," Sirius said quickly. He settled himself of a broad branch directly above Remus's head. "I was talking about... someone else."
"James?"
"How'd you know?"
"Well I know I'm not in love, and if you're not either than that only leaves one other person."
"What about Peter?"
"Could you imagine Peter in love?"
"Mm... good point. Anyway, supposing James fell in love... how would you feel?"
"I don't know." Remus glanced back up at Sirius. "Who's he in love with anyway?"
"Nobody."
"Yeah, that makes a lot of sense."
"No, seriously, she is nobody. Do you know who Lily Evans is?"
"No."
"See? She's nobody."
Remus rolled his eyes. "Just because I don't know her it doesn't mean no one else does."
Sirius leaned against the trunk and looked up at the sky. "Girls suck," he said. "We don't need them, do we Moony? They can all drop dead for all I care."
"I seem to remember you chasing after a certain Kayleen Miller in our sixth year," Remus pointed out.
Sirius winced at the memory. "That was different. I was young and stupid back then."
"Now you're just stupid."
"Very funny, Moony." Sirius sighed. Less than twenty-four hours ago he'd been a normal, happy seventeen-year-old with a normal, happy seventeen-year-old best friend, and a not-so-normal, but happy werewolf for his other best friend. Now he was a confused, crazy-jealous seventeen-year-old who had a girl-obsessed best friend who happened to be in love with the world's biggest cat loving loser.
This was all Lily's fault. If she hadn't come on the scene he'd still have his best friend acting normally.
"This is stupid," Sirius muttered, jumping down from the tree. "I don't know why he had to fall in love anyway."
"What is it with you and this Lily girl, anyway?" Remus asked. "What've you got against her?"
"I never said I had anything against her," Sirius said. "It's just..." his voice trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence.
"You're jealous, aren't you?" Remus said, realizing for the first time. "You're scared that James will replace you with her."
"I am not," Sirius snapped. "You can't tell me what I'm feeling."
"Yes, I can," Remus said.
"Tell me then, smarty."
"You're jealous. You think that Lily's going to be the number one person in his life now, you're scared that you're going to lose him as your best friend and you don't want to share him with anyone he might fall in love with because you think he'll start drifting further and further away from you," said Remus smartly, shutting his book. "See? I'm not as stupid as you think. I'm right aren't I?"
Sirius just sat there with his mouth hanging open. Just when you thought you knew everything there was to a person, they'd go and surprise you with something else.
"That's not true," he said. "I'm not jealous."
"What is it then?"
"It's..." For the second time in less than ten minutes, Sirius found himself unable to finish off a sentence. To his relief, he saw James heading up the hill towards them. "Oh, look," Sirius said. "Here comes lover boy himself."
Remus turned quickly. James approached them looking unusually more like himself and less like the weird way he had been acting lately.
"Hi," James said.
"Hi," Sirius and Remus both said at the same time. They watched with interest as James began to pace in front of them. He sat down, stared at the ground for about two seconds, then got up and started pacing again.
"Guys," he suddenly burst out. "I've got something to tell you."
"It's okay," Remus said kindly. "We already know."
"You're in love," Sirius said. "With Lily Evans."
He looked up in surprise. "How'd you know?"
"Divination," Sirius said. "Trelawney's rubbing off on us."
"Funny, ha ha. How did you know?"
"We just figured in out from the weeeeeeird way you've been acting lately and the way you've been obsessing over her in the common room every night."
James blushed. "I do not obsess over her."
"Yes, you do."
"Whatever.... anyway, I asked her if she wanted to meet you guys in the common room tomorrow night."
"Why?"
"Well, she's kind of shy and doesn't have that many friends..."
"No friends, you mean," Sirius muttered. He winced as Remus trod heavily on his foot. "Ouch."
"We'll be there," he said. "Me and Sirius both."
James looked relieved. "Good," he said. "And remember, she gets scared kind of easily so can you act...."
"Normally?" Remus said. "Yeah, we can do that."
"Okay, thanks," James said. "I'll see you later, then. I've got Quidditch practice." He hurried off towards the broom shed.
"What was that for?" Sirius asked once James was out of ear shot, rubbing his toe.
"Sorry," Remus apologized. "I thought you were going to say something stupid."
"Me?" Sirius looked innocent. "Say something stupid?"
Remus rolled his eyes. "Let's go into the castle," he said. "I want to see what this Lily girl looks like."
*****
"Sirius, don't say anything dumb," James said, chewing on his lip nervously. 'Don't make her nervous. Act normal. You know she..."
"...gets scared very easily," Sirius finished off for him. "Honestly, James, you've told me about a million times. I won't do anything stupid."
"Stupid?" James suddenly looked panicked. "Crazy and weird I thought about, but I didn't think of stupid."
"It's okay, Prongs." Remus looked very calm in comparison to his friend. "Just bring her over and we'll meet her."
"Right," James said, nodding. "I can do that." He pushed his hair back, straightened his shoulders, and walked over to get Lily. Remus looked at Sirius.
"You aren't going to do anything stupid, are you?" he asked.
"Me?" said Sirius, trying to look innocent and failing. "Of course not."
"I know you don't like her," Remus said. "So I have my suspicions..."
"I never said I didn't like her," Sirius said. "I just don't want her being... so close to James, that's all."
"Uh, yeah, whatever," Remus said. "Look, here they come now..."
Sirius glanced up. James was leading Lily over, looking unusually nervous. Lily was half hidden behind her red hair, Sirius could just make out a pair of glowing green eyes looking out from beneath it. A small brown kitten was trailing along behind them. They stopped when they reached them.
"Lily," James said. "This is Remus and Sirius. You guys, this is Lily."
Lily peered out from behind her curtain of red hair and gave them a small, uncertain smile. "Hi," she said.
Remus smiled back. "Hi," he said.
Sirius didn't say anything. I can't believe James actually likes this red-haired midget, he thought. Remus kicked him in the shin.
"Ouch.... oh, what? I mean, hi," Sirius said quickly. "Nice day, isn't it?"
This brilliant comment earned him another kick in the shins from Remus. "The day's over," Remus muttered from the corner of his mouth. "It's eight o'clock at night, remember?"
"Oh, yeah," Sirius said. "I meant, nice night, isn't it? Ha, ha, HA."
His last 'ha' came out as slightly hysterical. He looked at James who was staring daggers at him. Sirius figured he'd better keep his mouth shut for a while and let them talk amongst themselves and forget about him for a bit... James started up a conversation and Remus joined in. Sirius noticed that Lily didn't talk very much, only a few words and only when she was asked... what on earth did James see in her?
Ho, hum. The night was getting very boring. His eyes wandered and rested on the cat that was hovering around near Lily's feet. He bent down to scratch it.
"Hey, kitty," he murmured, reaching over to stroke it. The cat glared fiercely at him as his hand drew closer and closer.... finally, after it was about an inch from its nose, the cat suddenly gave a loud hiss and bit down on it.
"OW! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Sirius shrieked as he lifted his arm up and tried to shake the kitten off. "Get *off* you stupid animal!" He gave one particularly violent swing of his arm and Fluffer McKitty went flying off.
"Kitty!" Lily shrieked as she went sailing into air. She landed with a thump on the rug in front of the common room fire and scampered up the wall and on to the curtain rod where she sat hissing and refusing to come down. Immediately, a bunch of Gryffindors surrounded the curtains, all yelling and screaming advice on how to get her back down to safety.
Lily shrieked again and ran over to try and rescue her cat. James glared at Sirius fiercely before he went after her. "Now you've done it," he said as he went off. Remus looked at him, shook his head, then ran off to join them.
Great, thought Sirius fiercely as he nursed his bleeding hand. Two weeks into a relationship and James already cares more about her than he does for his best friend who he's known for almost seven years, mind you, and Remus has only known her for about thirty seconds and he's running off after her too...
Sirius scowled as he went stomping up the stairs to his dormitory. It just seemed incredibly unfair. Here he was, practically bleeding to death and no one was there to help him out. Lily was Muggle-born. Now he probably had one of those Muggle diseases he had learnt about in Muggle Studies... he ran through them in his head. Rabies, Hepatitis B, AIDS, Chicken Pox, Tonsillitis, Scarlet Fever, Strep Throat, Amnesia, Lung Cancer.... yeah, I probably have Lung Cancer, he thought, flopping down on his bed. Lung Cancer was supposed to be fatal. He'd probably die of Lung Cancer within the next five minutes and James' last words to him would have been, "Now you've done it."
Sirius sighed and turned over. He wished he would die. At least then James would be sorry that he chose Lily Evans over him.
*****
Breakfast the next day was not a very enjoyable meal. Both Sirius and James were furious at each other, James because Sirius had ruined his introduction-to-Lily evening and Sirius because James hadn't come to see if he were okay after his hand had gotten ripped open. They stared stonily at the walls beyond each others shoulder and refused to speak to each other.
Remus sighed. He couldn't believe his friends were acting so childishly. He figured he had better tell James what was going on with Sirius before their friendship ended for good.
"James," Remus said. "Let's leave for Charms early. I want to show you something."
"Okay," James said, carefully avoiding Sirius' eyes.
Sirius watched as they walked out of the room. I want the old James back, he thought with a pang.
*****
It was the end of the day and Sirius was feeling horrible. What kind of a best friend am I, anyway? he thought to himself as he walked back from Transfiguration, his last class for the day. I meet James' new girlfriend for the first time and the first thing I do is throw her cat up a curtain rod.
He shook his head in disgust. He made himself want to throw up sometimes. He most desperately wanted to make up with James again but didn't know how to say sorry...
On the other hand, why didn't he just say sorry? It would save a lot of boring days without James, Remus wasn't exactly the most exciting person on earth when all he had time for these days was to study, study, study. If he just said sorry maybe he and James could be friends again... and his hand wasn't that big a deal, it was only a scratch really...
He was heading towards the Grand Hall for tea but changed his mind at the last minute and went out into the grounds instead. James should be coming back from Quidditch practice around now... Sirius glanced around, looking for him. Maybe he was at the broomshed.
Sirius began making his way over, humming as he did so. It was nice thinking that he and James would be friends again soon, he reached the broomshed peered around it, and saw a sight that stopped him in his tracks. Funny, he didn't know why it took him by such complete surprise. He'd already known James was in love with Lily for days now, and all loving couples kiss occasionally...
The were standing behind the broomshed, James with his arms around her waist and Lily with her arms around his neck kissing like there was no tomorrow. And I thought Lily was a good girl, Sirius found himself thinking as he watched in facination. They'd probably both die of suffocation and find them selves reincarnated into leeches, still sucking each other... Then he seemed to realize exactly what he was doing and exactly what he was thinking, and turned away, embarrassed that it had taken him so long to react.
The first thing he did was walk to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and punch the nearest tree he could find as hard as he could. It hurt, but the pain made him feel better somehow. It was almost like he deserved it, all the jealousy he had been feeling lately... He sat down on a rock, nursed his bleeding hand, and tried to sort out his feelings, one by one.
Part of it was definitely jealously. He and James had been friends for years and years now, and he certainly didn't want to share him with some girl who had suddenly popped onto the scene out of nowhere. He liked it the way it had always been, him and James flirting a bit with the girls that chased after him after Quidditch practice but not getting seriously involved with anyone, except when he had tried chasing after Kayleen Miller that one time and had fallen flat on his face.... and the less said about that the better, he thought.
Okay, so there was jealousy. The rest of what he was feeling would have to be loneliness... James didn't have a whole lot of time to spend with his friends now that he had a girlfriend, and hanging out with Remus just wasn't the same as hanging out with James... Remus was too busy studying to catch up with the rest of the class and didn't have time to play pranks and things the way James and he always did...
Crap. Sirius got up off the rock and began making his way back to the castle, his messed up thoughts still lying in a tangled mess in his head.
*****
Sirius was in the common room, staring absently at the wall. He didn't know what he should do. Apologize to James? Wait for him to apologize first? Kill Lily....nah. She really wasn't that bad...
Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around. James was standing behind him with a very sorry look on his face.
"Sirius, I just want to say..." he began.
"I'm sorry," they both said at the same time.
"For being a jerk," Sirius said.
"For not paying much attention to you," said James. He risked a half-smile. "Remus told me about... you know. The way you've been feeling lately."
"I'm sorry," Sirius said again, looking at the ground.
"It's okay," James said. "It was my fault too. I should have talked to you more... understood. Anyway, I figured we could make a new start. Get you introduced to Lily again and stuff."
Sirius considered, then nodded. "That sounds pretty good."
"Okay." James looked around him and waved someone over. Then he took a deep breath. "Sirius, meet my girlfriend.....Lily Evans," he said.
Sirius looked at her and smiled.
"Hi," he said.
********************************************************************************
A/N: AGHGHGHGHGHGH! I'm so hot! I feel like sticking an ice bucket over my head and leaving it on there for a week. Anyway, this is pretty short... sorry. Too hot to write much more. I promise the next part won't take two months to write. And thanx for the reviews. Esp. Ali, Hermione Black (did you change your name???), Amethyst, bunny chan, Nice, Mezza, Immortal Mage, Padfoot's Gal, Serra, Sleeping Beauty and anyone else who's reviewed a lot of my stories...........um.......... i've forgotten a few people. hit me if i forgot you or better still, e-mail me so i can thank u in the next one!
And a few cluey people realised i made a mistake in the first part--Lily got the earrings for her birthday. oops. i might change but probably won't, too lazy ^^
anyway, i think that's all i want to say. this is probably the last part u'll see before christmas so merry x-mas and may all your wierd and wonderful dreams come true. laters, and review.