Title: Steps

Author: Amelia Bedelia

Chapter Five: Sirius' View

AUTHORS NOTE: You guys have made me feel so guilty all week long!!! I wrote as much as I could when I was gone and then when I came back, I saw that I had OVER fifty reviews total!!! I feel like now I have to write as much as I can whenever I can!!! I just hope the story doesn't sound too rushed!

I also titled the name of this chapter Sirius' View because there's a little change of POV for a few parts to – you guessed it – Sirius!

There's not much more to say, so on with the show!

Chapter Five: Sirius' View

"Ok, class, partner up," Professor Caly said. "Once you have your partners, begin to analyze each others dreams and thoughts that I told you to have ready for class today. We will just tell out dreams and thoughts today. Tomorrow we will try to analyze the dreams."

Sirius and James automatically walked to the back of the Divination classroom and sat next to each other.

"So," James started, "what were your thoughts before you fell asleep?"

"My thoughts… I don't know, probably something along the lines of 'I'm dead tired' I think."

"I agree with you there, Padfoot. So, what'd you dream about?"

"Sleep."

"You're interesting…"

"Oh yeah?" Sirius rebounded. "What'd you dream about?"

"Girls," James lied.

"Well, you got me beat."

James just chuckled. He hadn't really thought about girls last night. All he could really think about was a girl; as in one girl.

Could you guess who that girl just happened to be?

You most likely guessed right if you said Lily. She had been the only thing on his mind since the "Astronomy Tower incident," as he liked to call it. James probably got two hours of sleep all night long. He spent the rest of the night worrying about Lily and wondering if she would get better soon.

"James? Hello? Prongs wake up!"

"Yeah, what do you want?" James asked, yawning. "I'm trying to sleep here, Sirius!"

"Sure," he muttered suspiciously. "Why didn't you get any sleep last night?"

"You know - school stuff."

"Why? We don't have any tests or anything this week. What else was on your mind, James?"

"Well, Lily's in the Hospital Wing too, you know? Just worried a little, I guess."

"A little? James, going to see her between every class does mean that you're worried about her a little? It's so obvious, James. You like her. Just admit it now I you won't be harmed in any way!" Sirius said, holding up his hands in mock defense.

"No, Sirius, that's not it. She's just pale and she's been puking and she - "

"James, I get the picture!" Sirius exclaimed, earning strange looks from the rest of the class. "Yes, James, I, uh, understand your dream - no need to go into too many details," Sirius said to cover up for his childish behavior.

"Ah, Sirius," Professor Caly said from the other side of the room. "You must elaborate dreams as much as you can! Remember that from now on, class. You might have the right reading if the person telling their dreams is not thorough. Always elaborate. Remember that Sirius."

"Oh, you can count on me, Professor!" Sirius called, giving her a thumbs-up sign. Professor Caly just glared and turned back to grading homework.

James laughed. "Nice cover-up, Sirius."

"Oh, shut up, would you? Now, what's up between you and Lily? You two have been getting pretty cozy after you broke up with Caroline. Speaking of Caroline - what exactly happened? I don't think I got the whole story from you yet. Then Sirius got an evil grin on his face. "You caught her with another guy, didn't you? You're just too embarrassed that she wanted someone else more than you, aren't you?"

"No, Sirius! I, uh - " James lowered his voice. "Um, how 'bout I tell you tonight, ok? Just not during class."

Sirius looked James over a few times. After he realized that he was telling the truth, he agreed. "Alright. But you can't weasel out of it this time, James. No exceptions. But it's gotta be pretty important to keep it so secret and no one else in the whole school knows!"

"Sure, Sirius, think whatever you want," James said, trying not to give anything away at all. Sure, he would tell Sirius part of the story tonight, he just didn't want Sirius to be bugging James about it while he was trying to concentrate on something other than keeping Sirius' mouth closed. Keeping his mouth closed took every brain cell from your body and half the time you could never do it!

James and Sirius leaned back in their chairs while they watched others struggle with this subject. They thought and thought as hard as they could for every memory and every thought they had the night before.

James and Sirius, however, just took the easy way out.

"Class," Professor Caly started, "I need your attention now." Everyone turned and stared at the Professor. "Thank you," she muttered. "Now, today you will be taking a topic that has to involve dreams and interpretations. You will come up to my desk here and take a piece of Parchment. Whichever piece you draw will be the topic you do a report on - no trading," Caly said sternly, glaring at Peter. "You will write an essay on the topic that is at least eighteen inches long." Again, Professor Caly looked at Peter who now began to shrink in his seat. "Next week you will read your essay aloud to the class - no improvisation," she said, glaring at Sirius and James now. "Because once you're finished, I will check to make sure the Parchment is the correct length."

Professor Caly picked up the Parchment and had students file up around her desk holding their arms out for a topic. James crawled through the crowd on hands and knees. He popped up in the middle and took the Parchment on top.

"Ha!" he called to the others at the back of the crowd.

After James managed to climb out, he flipped over the parchment and saw, in red ink, written "Descuardo Dreams."

"Hey, Remus? Have you ever heard of Descuardo dreams?" James asked.

"Hmm…" Remus leaned over to look at the spelling. "No, I can't say that I have. Sorry, James.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Potter, you picked quite a tough topic to research!" Professor Caly said, chuckling. "It's extremely rare. I expect you will be cooped up in the library for a fair portion of this week."

"Great," James mumbled as he flopped back down into his seat.

♣♥╫♥♣ Lily ♦♠╫♠♦

"Good afternoon," Lily called to Eleanor as she woke up at one in the afternoon. "I'm feeling a lot better today; can I go back to classes now?"

"You're feeling better?' she asked, worried. "You're not nauseous?"

"No!" Lily cried, hopping out of bed. She grabbed her clothes sitting at the bottom of her bed and threw them on as quickly as she could. "So," she said grinning, "can I go back now?"

"Lily, why don't you just stay here for the rest of the day? The headmaster wanted me to keep an eye on you for a little while. We're, uh, thinking that you might have a disease of some sort. It's best not to worry about it yet. I just think that you should regain all of your strength before you go and join those crazy students in the hallway. You know, just play it safe."

Lily groaned and sat on the bed. "Alright, I guess. But I'm not going to sleep!"

"That's fine. I just want you to stay here until dinner, at least. You can go and join your friends then. Maybe if you're lucky, Mr. Potter will drop by again. He's been dropping by between his other classes. He is such a nice young man. What a great friend to have."

"Yes," Lily sighed. "He's my best friend in the whole world." Eleanor pulled down the covers of the bed and Lily, without complaining, lay down with thoughts of James in her head.

"Just try and get to sleep, Lily. It'll make the time fly by quicker," Eleanor reasoned.

"I guess I could try."

"Now, there's a good girl! Just close your eyes - that's it – and I'll be back in a jiffy." Eleanor ran off to her cabinets to find a dreamless sleep potion. She grabbed it from off of the shelf and carefully poured it into a small vial to give to Lily.

"Here you - "

Lily had dozed off already without the help of a sleeping drought. Eleanor just smiled and shook her head as she placed the potion back in her cupboard.

►♀☼♂◄Dream►♀☼♂◄

Lily woke up in the same place she had been before. It was dark. She saw nothing.

The floor moved and pulled Lily towards that opening outside again. Lily stood once she reached the familiar opening and backed a few feet away.

The floor pulled her back.

Lily backed up again.

The floor pulled her back again.

Lily glanced around at her surroundings again. She heard a familiar voice.

Don't jump.

She spun and stared at the endless dark behind her.

Don't jump.

Lily finally gave up.

"I sure hope you're right!" she called and began to walk into the dark.

The floor pulled her back.

Lily picked up her pace and began to run, but it was hopeless. She ran and called for help, but no one seemed to hear.

And then a miracle happened. She was lifted from the ground. At least her spirit seemed to be lifting out of her body. She could still see herself running on the ground, but the spirit lifted towards the rocky ceiling. Lily wasn't sure whether she should panic or be thankful for this.

So she didn't fight it. She kept floating, up, up, up, and then it was like she was being ripped from the dream.

The picture began to fade.

◄§▼§►End of Dream◄§▼§►

Lily was shaken awake and found herself looking straight into a pair of beautiful blue eyes.

"James?"

ϐ○•○ϐ*James*ϐ○•○ϐ

He was getting tired of Sirius' endless talk about pranks. Politely, James excused himself from the dinner table.

"Sirius, put a sock in it," James said as he left the table without an explanation as to where he was heading. But the other Marauders already knew.

James pushed open the Infirmary door and quietly walked towards Lily's bed.

"Hey, Lils, are you awake?"

Lily's head was tossing back and forth and she seemed to be breathing hard. James could even see beads of sweat forming above her eyebrow. It was apparent, though, that Lily was still asleep.

"Lily?" he asked, placing his hand on her shoulder and began shaking her awake. "Lily, wake up. You're scaring me, now. C'mon, Lil. Wake up!"

Suddenly, Lily jerked herself awake, panting.

"James?"

"Lily, are you ok? You were sort-of moving in your sleep and you looked like you'd just played three hours of Quidditch straight! What happened? Did you have a bad dream or something?

Lily looked around the room as if it were some foreign place she'd never been to before. "What time is it?" she managed to gasp.

"Er - " James consulted his watch. "About seven. Why?"

"Dinner," Lily muttered to herself. "Eleanor, I'm leaving! See you later!" Lily called pulling James by the hand along with her. James had to use all the strength he had to keep from blushing.

"Wait! Lily, come back tomorrow morning for a few minutes before you go back to class!" Eleanor called after Lily.

"Ok!" Lily shouted back. Lily continued to run until she and James were out of sight from the office. Only then did she slow to a walk.

"Lily?!?" James exclaimed. "What has gotten into you?!?'"

"Oh." Lily blushed. "It's sort-of a long story."

"It is? Well, I've got time tonight. Surely it can't take longer than three hours."

Lily chuckled softly. "Nope. But it's also a little private so it can't be told just anywhere either."

"Right," James said officially. "So," he muttered after looking at both ends of the hallway, "can you tell me now? The hallway's clear!"

Lily just shook her head. They entered the Great Hall now. "James, I'm serious."

"No you're not."

Lily stopped in her tracks, shocked. "Excuse me?"

James smiled. "I said, you're not Sirius. He's Sirius," James said, pointing towards the Gryffindor table.

Lily just rolled her eyes and walked towards the table. She sat down next to Remus while James slid into a spot next to her, across from Sirius.

"Hey, Lily," Remus muttered, stuffing food into his mouth.

"Don't you guys ever stop eating? Not even to say hello to me!"

"Hey!" Remus said, taking another bite out of his chicken leg. "I said hello!"

"Yeah, with food in you mouth!"

"So?" Remus shrugged, as he went back for seconds.

"Oh, hey, Lily. I didn't see you there," Sirius muttered.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Maybe that's because you were too busy filling your stomachs to even notice that I'm back!"

Peter looked up from the other side of Remus to see what the noise was. "Oh, Lily! I didn't - "

"Don't even," Lily muttered crossly as she, herself, dug into the food in front of her.

James couldn't help but laugh. Lily just glared and proceeded to follow the other boys' examples of eating.

"Uh, Lily, are you ok? You weren't starved when you were in the Infirmary, were you?" James asked.

Lily shook her head. "No. I just, uh, well, to tell the truth – I just feel hungrier. I don't know."

Sirius looked up to see Lily in action. "My god, woman! What have we done to you! You've, oh Jamsie, dare I say she's – she's - "

"Spit it out!" Lily yelled.

"Lily, I think you're turning into – oh, I can't bare the reality of it all!"

"Sirius," Lily hissed, glaring at him.

"Lily, I fear this may shock you. I understand fully and completely if you wouldn't want to know of the danger that faces you."

"Sirius, what is it?" she said, actually sounding interested this time.

"Oh, Lily," Sirius said, wiping away a fake tear of happiness. "I believe you're turning into – into – one of us!"

"You know, I think you're right!" James said, looking at Lily in a new light. "I believe we should declare her a Marauder."

"James, there's a lot of responsibility in becoming a Marauder. You know," Sirius muttered, glancing at Remus in the process and James understood. Although, he couldn't really understand why Sirius wouldn't be able to trust her either…

The four Marauders and Lily left their places at the dinner table and headed back to Gryffindor tower. There weren't many people left considering it was a Thursday and most students were either exhausted from the hard week or were still in the library researching last minute homework.

"Hey, uh, James," Sirius said breaking into his and Lily's conversation, "I'm getting a little tired. Are you coming?" Remus and Peter, along with the rest of Gryffindor, had already left to go to bed, but Sirius still wanted to talk to James – though Lily just wasn't leaving.

"Er - " James looked from one to the other and then leaned over in Lily's ear. "You'll have to tell me your little secret tomorrow night."

Lily just smiled in return. "I'm actually going to stay down here for a few more minutes or so. I have a little homework that I want to look over before I go back to class tomorrow. Good-night."

James grinned. "See you tomorrow, Lily." He walked up the boys' dormitory steps and into his room.

Sirius, however, stayed behind. He waited until the sound of a door latching was heard. And then he rounded on Lily.

"All right, Lily," Sirius started, "I need a word with you."

Lily looked up from her books in the corner and Sirius walked over to meet her there. "What is it Sirius?"

"Oh, don't play dumb with me you – you - "

"Sirius, what are you trying to say?" she asked, nervously.

"That you have been taking away my best friend, mind you, not yours! You're taking him away from me! He hasn't talked to me about – about – anything in the past few days! Nothing! You're using him for something, Evans. I don't know what it is yet, but trust me, once I find out what you're trying to do to him, I'll get you. If you do anything – anything - you can bet your ass you'll be wishing you were dead once I got through with you. You're not like the rest, Evans. I know your type. You don't care about anyone else but yourself. But whatever you do, if you hurt James, you'll regret it. I assure you that."

Lily looked at Sirius with her mouth hanging open. "Sirius, I'm not - "

"I don't want to hear any of your pathetic excuses, Evans."

Lily sat in shock. Sirius was still looming over her. Lily could see his fists shaking in anger. His face was beet red and Lily couldn't help cowering away. It was just one of those reflexes that you become used to.

"Stay away from James. Is that clear, Evans?" Lily was too scared to say anything. It took her a few seconds before she realized he had just spoken to her again. And slowly, but surely, Lily replied.

"Crystal."

Sirius backed up the slightest and gave a small smile. "Good. Now that mess is all cleaned up, I need to go and talk to my best friend." He left without a word and ran up to the boys' dormitories.

Lily let the tears fall. She hid her face in her hands and sobbed as hard as she knew how.

She had never thought she was doing anything to hurt Sirius. Sure, they never really got along. Was Sirius really that selfish?

James is his best friend, Lily tried to reason with herself.

That gave him no reason to say that you should never see him again, her brave side spoke up.

But, he said he'd hurt me.

Lily! Stop being a wimp! You need to grow up!

She swallowed all of her courage she had and looked at the clock.

It was eleven fifty-nine.

Memo to self, Lily said. Tomorrow, I will grow up. Nothing and no one will hold me back.

Lily let the last tear fall off of her cheek and onto her hand. She looked at the clock.

It was midnight; the start of a new day.

Defiantly, Lily wiped the tears from her eyes and stood from her spot on her chair. She made her way to the girls' dormitories and changed clothes.

"Who's making that racket?"

Claudia stuck her head out of the curtains that surrounded the bed frame. "Oh. It's you. Why are you up here so late?"

Lily smiled at them and did something she'd barely ever done to them before. She spoke to them.

"I was just talking to Sirius and James. Sorry if I woke you."

Claudia looked at Lily, shocked. "Uh, that's ok. I'll just, er, see you in the morning."

Lily smiled. "Alright. Good night."

"Night," Claudia muttered before falling to sleep again.

Lily climbed under her covers, thankful for her own bed back.

She smiled into the darkness and fell asleep.

ϐ○•○ϐ*James*ϐ○•○ϐ

James climbed the stairs to the boys' dormitories. Shutting the door, James changed into his pajamas and sat on his bed, waiting for Sirius.

What's taking him so –

"Hey, Prongs."

James looked at the door and saw Sirius had just entered. "Hey, Sirius. What were you doing out there for so long?"

"Oh, you know," he muttered, "Lily's pretty good at homework and I had a small questions on our, uh, potions essay."

"Right," James said, laughing. He didn't believe one word of what Sirius just said. There was no way that Sirius would have, somehow, just become interested in homework for one in his life.

"So," Sirius started, "tell me what happened."

"Sirius, aren't you going to change first?"

"Nope!" he said doing a belly flop on his bed. "So," he said in a girly voice with his head resting on his hands, "give me the gossip, Jamsie."

James smiled. He was still trying to plan out what he would tell Sirius. He couldn't say that Lily had tried to commit suicide. He knew she wouldn't want anyone else to that would break his trust between Lily and him. He didn't want that to happen. He'd die before he lost Lily's trust.

"Ok, Sirius, it started when I ran into Lily when I was with Caroline. And Caroline called her a, uh, you know."

"What?" Sirius questioned.

"You know, Padfoot. That word."

Sirius understood what James was talking about and groaned into his pillow. Sirius just thought that "mudblood" was just a word and he could care less about who used it on whom – unless it was used on Remus. He didn't want to bring up another fight between him and James so he kept his mouth shut for once in his life.

"So, does James here have a little crush on Lily?" Sirius teased.

James groaned and threw himself backwards onto the bed. "How obvious is it?" he asked, nervous.

"Oh my god…" Sirius looked at James, stunned. "You mean I was right? Damn, I was just making fun of you!"

"Ok, it's not that obvious," James said to himself, rolling his eyes.

"So, James, do you really like Lily?"

"Yeah. I mean, she's never made me feel this way before, Sirius. At first I thought of her as just a friend, you know? Now, ever since a few nights ago, it's like I can't get her off my mind! Like it's some kind-of spell she put me under," James joked.

"Spell…" Sirius muttered under his breath.

"Sirius, I'm getting tired. Can I go to bed?"

"Sure, whatever. Good night."

James climbed under his bed sheets and fell straight to sleep with thoughts of a special redhead in mind.

►♀☼♂◄Dream►♀☼♂◄

There she was again. It almost didn't scare Lily anymore that she was here so often! Almost.

Automatically, before the floor began moved, Lily was off running like a bullet. It had worked last time, so why couldn't it work now?

The floor was pulling at a quick rate and Lily was having a hard time moving anywhere but backwards.

She ran and ran until she could feel the pain in her legs and could taste the sweat running off of her forehead and down her neck. She was losing stamina quickly and almost gave up altogether.

Lily was slowing so much that she could see the vast graveyard.

But she didn't give up. Even with as hard as it was to breathe now, she didn't give up.

She was only inches away from the cliff.

Five inches.

Lily turned her head and panicked.

Four inches.

Run, Lily, run!

Three inches.

Lily had no breath left.

Two inches.

Come on, Lily, don't give up!

One inch.

She let out a blood curdling screamed as her feet slid off the edge of the floor. Lily fell into the graveyard and saw nothing but rain and mud splattered everywhere. She fell through James. She fell through her grave stone. She fell through her own bones.

◄§▼§►End of Dream◄§▼§►

Lily woke up at six thirty the next morning, with her bed drenched in her sweat and vomit all over the bathroom.

AUTHORS NOTE: Thanks for reading! I'm also really sorry that you had to wait longer than usual for this next chapter! But the next one I have it planned out a bit more so I might have it up earlier! Yay!!!


And thanks for reviewing so much!!! I really appreciate how much people love this story! Thanks!!!

REVIEW SECTION:

Silver10fire: I'm glad Caroline's gone too!!! Thanks for reviewing!!!

Kathy: You're welcome! Have you finished the Pensieve story yet? Anyway, thanks for reviewing!!!

Andrea-the-angel: It reminds you of a dream? Cool! And maybe it was the outcome or maybe it wasn't… You'll just have to find out the hard way… Patience is a virtue… Anyways, thanks for reviewing!!!

Young Golden Unicorn: I'm exactly like you when it comes to reading stories over again! I read the end of the third HP book again and it was the one part where Harry and Sirius are talking and then Snape comes and finds them in the Shrieking Shack. All I could think about for the next week was how much I hated Snape's guts and what would've happened if they had caught Peter. I felt like I was actually one of those characters!!! Anyway, thanks for reviewing!!!

Lucky-719: I didn't know that you had any stories up! I'll have to go check those out after I catch up all of my school work! Sadly, I don't think that it will all be caught up until this weekend!!! And I have a test tomorrow, and I have another test in a different class tomorrow, and I have a huge project due tomorrow that I haven't worked on, and… Well, you get the idea. But thanks for reviewing!!! Right now the only thing that cheers me up outside of school is reviews!!! Thanks!!!

Quinn: Thanks for your review! It cheered me up!!! By the way, I think you've reviewed every chapter so, apparently, you've been checking for my story as much as you can!!! (Aw, how sweet!!!) Well, I don't know if it would be easier for me to just e-mail you for whenever I update my story. Just tell me your e-mail in your next review if you would like me to add it to my list of people to send the "Update message" to. Thanks!

JadeAngelou: Oh no!!! Caps lock again!!! Well, thank you for that comment!!! I'm really happy you think it's you of the best stories you've read!!! Thank you SOOO much!!!

Little_Kitsune: Thanks for your review!!! And I held up my end of the deal! Lookie, another chapter! Now it's your turn again!!! (Hee, hee, hee… I'm just so evil… Yeah, right…) Thanks for reviewing!!!

Kitty: Thanks! I'll try and get my story updated sooner next time!!! Thanks for reviewing!!!

Buggy-Such: Thanks!!! But I got a question - what did you think of the other chapter that I accidentally put up? Does it sound like a good story? Thanks for reviewing!!!

Hazelmist: You liked the quills/Remus part? Cool! I sort-of made that up on the spot!!! I'm glad you like the plot!!! Maybe it'll hopefully all come back together soon again! Thanks for reviewing!!!

BastsCleopatra: Thanks! I hope there's enough plot going around! I have a little more idea as to hints and what-not in the story, but who knows! Maybe I'll just leave them off! Hmm… Decisions, decisions… Thanks for reviewing!!!

Grrr: I'm glad you didn't flame me!!! And thanks for reviewing!!!

Hia, CT'SD, CN'?: Your name's funny!!! I'm glad you like the story!!! You know, you remind me of me! I do that P.S. thing a lot. Once I had thirteen P.S.'s I think!!! Anyways, thanks for reviewing!!!

SVZ: Yes, you're probably correct in saying that Lily will live since she doesn't die until later in the books! :) Thanks for reviewing!!!

BeCkY: Wow!!! Someone's a tad hyper today! Hey, guess what? LAMELY!!! HA, HA!!! Anyways, thanks for reviewing!!!

NEXT CHAPTER: Sirius tries to get back at James for… something. I think I also promised James' fan club for this chapter but I'm thinking it would work better for chapter six! (Wow, am I really that far?!? SIX?!?!? Sheesh!!!) Maybe a tiny bit of dream interpretation, but it's probably not what you're thinking, though. I'll explain next chapter.

I have ONE LAST THING!!! I am going to try to post my other story (I need to go through real quick for spelling errors and everything) and then I'll post it ASAP!!!!!

Thanks for all of your reviews!!! Keep it up!!! I'd like to shoot for about seventy this time!!! Thanks!

Yours truly,

Amelia Bedelia