This Time Around

This Time Around

Sequel to Lily Evans

By Dorthey Star

Chapter two

This chapter is dedicated to Cassandra Claire and the other great fan fic authors that are leaving or have left (or in Cassandra Claire's case, kicked off of) ffn.

Sirius did not have a chance to talk to Lily about whatever it was he wanted to talk to her about until right before the Halloween Feast.

"Lily! LILY!" Sirius hissed to her in History of Magic the day of the Feast.

"Huh…?" Lily murmured. She was having day dreams about killing Snape. Wait, she thought, I'm having day dreams about that slimy git? She shuddered as she thought about that. She looked over at Sirius as acknowledged his presence. He slipped her a note.

Red Rosie,

I really need to talk to you…alone. When can we talk in private? If we need to I can nick James's Invisibility Cloak. That way we can talk when we're supposed to be asleep or something if it comes to that.

Si

Lily thought about this for a moment. Suddenly she remembered how strange Sirius had been acting after they'd gotten back from the beginning of the year feast. She took out her quill and (oddly enough) red ink and answered him on the piece of parchment.

Si,

I would prefer it if you didn't call me Red Rosie. Remind me to hex you for that later. What do you need to talk to me about? We have a free period today…we could talk then. James has an Invisibility Cloak? Oh wait, I knew that. I think I was separated from the Magic world too long…

Lily

Lily slipped the note back to Sirius. She pretended to be listening to Professor Binns and what he was saying. Sirius slipped the paper back to her.

Lil,

What do you have against 'Red Rosie' ? I'd rather not tell you right now what I need to talk to you about. I'm busy free period. How about tonight after the feast?

Si

Lily read the note, wondering what could make Sirius too nervous to tell her now. She chewed on her lips for a second before replying

Si,

Busy, eh? Well, I guess after the feast would work (as long as we don't get caught!) you'd be in very much trouble if we did!

Lil

Sirius scribbled something on the parchment and handed it back to her as the bell ran.

Lil,

Meet me in the Commonroom at 11:00. wear a cloak and come alone.

Si

The feast seemed to go by slowly for Lily. Finally it was over. Lily walked back up to Gryffindor Tower with Maria.

"Lily," Maria said, stopping suddenly on the stairs to the girls' dorms, "What's wrong?"

"Huh? What do you mean by 'what's wrong?'" Lily asked, guiding her friend the rest of the way up the stairs.

"You've been unusually quiet tonight and at the feast you kept staring at Sirius," a smile crept onto Maria's face as they arrived in the 2nd year girls' dorm, "I think somebody likes Sirius." She said quietly into Lily's ear so that Natalie and Jessica wouldn't hear.

"I do not!" Lily answered a bit too quickly, causing Maria to become more suspicious of her friend.

"Uh huh. Sure, Lily, I believe you." Maria grinned.

"Good night!" Lily changed into her pajamas and crawled under the covers.

Hours later, Lily woke up. her first thought was: it can't be morning already, can it? Followed by what time is it? I'm supposed to meet Sirius! She found her watch on the bedside table and looked at it. It was 11:07. Lily, cursing under her breath, pulled on a pair of shoes and her cloak. She stole down the staircase. Her heart sunk. There was no one in the Commonroom. As turned around to go back up the stairs, Sirius was suddenly standing in front of her. She cursed loudly.

"You'll wake up the whole house if you talk much louder than that," Sirius scolded with a smile.

"You scared me half to death, appearing out of nowhere like that!" Lily hissed angrily.

"You're late, but come on. Get under the cloak." Sirius held up the silvery cloak and they both got under it.

"Where are we going?" Lily yawned.

"The lake." Sirius and Lily walked along in silence. When they left the front doors, Lily pulled her cloak closer to her to shield herself from the cold wind. They stood in silence for a moment when they reached the lake. Sirius took the cloak off them. Finally, Lily spoke.

"What did you want to talk to me about, Si?" she asked softly.

"You can't tell anybody that I told you this. Remus would kill me." This made Lily more confused than ever. Remus was a sweet boy who'd never kill a fly. Well, maybe a fly or a mosquito.

"Why? What could possibly be that bad?" Lily asked Sirius.

"Do you ever wonder where he goes every month?" Sirius asked me softly.

"He's sick, right?" Lily's head was clouded from lack of sleep.

"He is sick…incurably sick, in fact. Remus is…a werewolf, Lily." The only sound that could be heard was the singing of the grasshoppers and other nighttime sounds.

"But…but werewolves don't exist! They were just made up to scare Muggles and to make horror movies!" Lily said fast. She didn't see why Sirius had to meet her out in the dark like this just to pull her leg.

"Werewolves do exist, Lily. Remus got bit when he was little. Please don't act differently towards him. He was scared that we'd shun him, James, Peter, and I, when we found out," Sirius pleaded.

"I wouldn't dream of acting differently towards him," Lily told Sirius truthfully. It was the truth, too. He wasn't any different now than when he was before, so there was no need to treat him differently. But Lily was still confused. "Why are you telling me?"

"Because Remus and I have an idea…we haven't told anyone yet, but we'd need your help. James, being the stubborn git that he is, won't tell you and doesn't want you to help. We're going to become Animagus. We're not sure how to do it yet, but it will be illegally done somehow…will you help us?" Sirius had such a pleading sound to his voice. Lily blew air threw her teeth.

"I guess. Can I go back to bed now? I'm pretty sure McGonagall's gonna give us a practical test tomorrow…I'm sure to fail." Lily sighed heavily.

"You know you could always get Jamsie to help you with Transfiguration…" Lily could hear Sirius smile in the darkness. She hit him on the back of the head and stood up. Sirius stood up as she was dusting the dirt off the back of her cloak. On impulse, Sirius gave her a big bear hug.

"What was that for?" Lily asked Sirius. He shrugged.

"I dunno."

"Okaaay. Sirius, I'm officially worried about you now."

"You mean you weren't before?"

"Actually," Lily said as they walked back into the castle, "I've always been worried about you." They continued back to the Gryffindor Commonroom in silence, not wanting to wake up the whole castle and get into detention. When they arrived in the Commonroom, Sirius spoke.

"Uh oh," Sirius said softly so that Lily could only hear it for they were not alone in the Commonroom. James was sitting by the fire with a scowl on his face.

"Sirius? Come here. Now." James said harshly.

"You'd best get to bed, Lil. See you tomorrow." Sirius whispered to Lily, who ran from under the cloak and to the girls' staircase. She did not go up to her room. Curiosity got the best of her this time. She sat down on the steps and listened to James and Sirius.

"You told her, didn't you." James said. It wasn't a question.

"Yes. I told you I was going to. We need her help to do this. If you'd just burry the hatchet-" Sirius was cut off by James.

"I told you not to tell her for Remus's sake! You know he wouldn't want her to know, Sirius. You're not being a good friend to him."

"If telling her means that she's going to help us, I am being a good friend, because once we're animagus, we'll be able to keep him company during his transfiguration. That is being a good friend James!" There were stomps of the feet and the voices ceased. Lily went to bed, but didn't get to sleep for hours.

Disclaimer: Maria is mine. Everything else belongs to the lovely and the talented JK Rowling. Also, some ideas I unconsciously borrowed from Tropical Fishy like purple hair…honestly, I didn't know I'd borrowed them until I re-read 'The Flower and the Stag' (everyone go read it then bug her to get the next chapter to 'Just As Long As We're Together' out, okay?)

Author's Note: I am soo sorry about the delay. I had most of this chapter written a long time ago, but then I rewrote most of it because I changed my mind. Kudos to those of you who guessed that Sirius was going to ask Lily out. that didn't happen, but it was my original plan. It still might happen, but not in this chapter, chillens. A big thanks to all of you who answered me from my plea for Beta Readers. I thank all of you. I have enough now. I won't be going on anymore trips this summer except to Dallas, but I don't know when I'm going there. I don't know how long it will take for the next chapter to come out, but I'm soo sorry this one took this long. I promised I wasn't going to take the month of June off, but I did take about a month off! sorry! Please read/review!

Love Always,

Dorthey "lazy little bugger" Star [anyone who has gotten an email from me lately will know that I've taken to signing my emails like that ;-) ]