"WHAT?" Peter slipped, only because Remus was in shock.

"Who are you?" James yelled.

"It's us, hold on." Remus reached for the lock but his fingers felt numb and he couldn't unclasp it.

"Us? Whose 'us'?" James began to bang on the door.

"James, its okay." Lily tried to comfort him.

"No it's not. Open the door!"

Remus sighed. "Will you hold on?"

"NO!"

"James, please calm down!" Lily told him.

Finally Remus managed to open the door. He met James' eyes.

"Moony?" He asked, dropping his angry demeanor.

"Sorry…we didn't think you'd propose." Remus tried to defend himself.

"You still should have been listening." James protested. "Sirius is a bad influence on you,"

"It's the lack of him that's sending me for a loop. That and…" He looked at Lily. "Well…you know…."

"Yeah…" James looked at Peter, who was looking very ashamed of himself.

"It's 8:30." Lily announced, looking at her watch. "I'm going to have toast or something…before History." She headed for the door. "Bye James." She smiled feebly and closed the door behind her.

"You asked her to marry you?"

"I was desperate." James informed him, splashing some water on his face.

Remus sighed. "I can't wait to see Padfoot when he finds out."

"He wont." James said sternly. "He wont…" He assured himself. "Will he?"

"No." Peter answered quickly. "He'll never find out."

"Great. Now that that is settled…you want to have breakfast?"

"She didn't answer you." Remus told him.

"I know…." James said more to himself.

"That means she's thinking about it."

"How do you know?"

"Trust me. I know." Remus nodded solemnly and exited the bathroom.

James heaved a sigh. "She wouldn't think about it…she's practical…she would say 'no'…."

Peter looked at him. "Not if she loves you."

"We're fifteen. She can't love me." James said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"You said you loved her." Peter told him. "You meant it, right?"

"Of course I meant it. I proposed. Remember?"

Peter shrugged. "I dunno. But Moony is usual right about these things. Girls like him."

James winced. He didn't discuss other people's love life well…lack of thereof (ie: Snivellus) was a different matter. "Yeah, I guess they do."

"Girls don't really like you James." Peter said quietly.

"Yes the do," James informed him, growing perturbed. Outside there were tons of girls envying Lily.

"Only because you're a Chaser and good looking. Moony's deep and intriguing." Peter sighed.

James was startled by Peter's knowledge of these things. "Wormtail,"

"Yes?"

"When me and Sirius send you away, who do you talk to?"

"Lily."

It all became clear. "Figures." He messed with his hair. "I'm going to eat."

He opened the door, and stepped out into the hall. There were lots of students headed to the Great Hall, some of them to their first classes. They were all chatting happily without a care in the world.

What did he just do?

What, in the world, did he just do?

It would be okay. She wouldn't be able to be friends with Padfoot anyway.

He'd be okay.

Lily's practical.

He'd be okay.

Really…

"Watch it, will you?!" Sirius growled. Becoming so rapt in his own thoughts, James had bumped into his friend.

"Er…um…yeah…" James mumbled and walked towards the Great Hall.

"What's wrong with James?" Sirius asked, walking briskly to History with Remus.

"Nothing. Why do you care?" He asked, trying to end the friend's quarrel.

Sirius looked at him and shook his head bitterly. "I don't. He just ran into me today and didn't even say 'sorry'. That's common courtesy in my book."


"What did you say to him?" Remus inquired.

Sirius laughed a false, hollow laugh. "You know me. Of course I said 'sorry'."

Remus nodded, and the two arrived at History at the perfect time of 8:56. (It would have been much later but we all know Remus wouldn't have that.) "Who are you asking to the Yule Ball?"

"You're going to that? I couldn't care less about that thing." Sirius said, sitting at his usual seat in class.

"Some Ravenclaw seemed convinced you were taking her to 'that thing'." Remus told him.

Sirius grew pale. "Justine?"

"It appears to be so…from what I know about her."

He swallowed. "I'll take anyone but her." Sirius shook his head. "Anyone."

"That seems a little tart of you."

"Tart?" Sirius said, amused at the usage of the word.

"Anyway…what is so bad about her?" Remus sat and opened his textbook.

Sirius took a depth breath. "She scares me. I swear once she was talking a different language to me…"

Remus looked at him. "Do you listen to her?"

"I try. But I wouldn't take her to anywhere. Her on the other hand…" His eyes wandered off and Moony didn't bother to see who he was looking at.

"Why do you do that?"

Sirius leaned back in his chair, and let his eyes fall on Moony again. "Do what?"

"Stare. Like you actually…I don't know…aren't looking for what James and Lily have."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Number one rule: Never, ever, under any circumstance, look for what James and Lily have. Especially at fifteen." He laughed. "And why are you so mushy feely?"

"I am not mushy feely. I just know that if I were a girl I would be disgusted by that." Remus took out some parchment and dated the top.

"But you're not a girl, and I'm not 'staring' at you. So you really have nothing to worry about." Sirius assured him. "And you didn't see that girl…"

"What is the Number two rule?" Remus asked curiously.

"If number one rule fails, never ever get married." Sirius nodded, as if he were delivering some message from Merlin.

Remus wrote it down on a piece of paper. "Sign this." He placed it on Sirius' desk.

Padfoot looked it over. "Never…James…fifteen…married…." He mumbled, reading it somewhat in his head. "Why?"

"So I can document what a daft git you were in school."

Sirius ran a finger over his lips. "Only if you sign it first."

"I wont."

"Then you have to get James to sign it." Sirius stated, sitting right in his chair again. "Because I don't sign anything without my friend. But he's not here so James'll have to do."

Remus wished he could share the humor of James signing this with Sirius. He really did. "Okay."

Lily walked into the classroom. "Good morning." She said, letting it grace the ears of whoever cared enough to listen. A few people mumbled it back.

"Better yet, get her to sign." He challenged.

"I can't." Remus answered quickly. "She thinks I'm not like you."

"You're not."

"Most of the time."

"Ninety nine point nine percent of the time. Just ask her." Sirius argued.

He sighed. "But I can't."

"Then don't ask me." Sirius said happily, proud of his evading techniques.

"You get her to sign," Remus shot back, not about to loose his opportunity.

"Nobody wants to sign your stupid little paper…get over it."

"It's your stupid little paper."

"I'll get her to sign then," Sirius said proudly. He rose to his feet and strutted over to the seat next to Lily.

"Good morning, Miss Evans." He greeted and smiled at her.

"Hi," She said, and suddenly became rapt in her papers.

He cleared his throat. "How are you?"

Lily looked up. "Sirius, why are you here?"

"To talk to you…we never get to talk—"

"Funny, I thought that was because you hated me."

"Hate is such a strong word—"

"Why do you use it then?" Lily inquired.

Sirius mulled over his memory. "I don't believe I did,"

"You might as well have."

"Sirius?" James came wandering into the classroom. "Why are you here?"

"Merlin, can't I just sit with my friends?!" James made a face and sat on the other side of Lily.

Professor Binns cleared his throat. "Today we will be learning about Uric the Oddball,"

James began to laugh quietly. Lily heaved a sigh and took out her old notes.

"Not again…mother…please not again…" Sirius muttered, doing some doodles on his parchment.

"So what do we know about Uric? Nothing? Good, we can start from the beginning.."

This caused Sirius to begin to laugh.

"Shh…" Lily told him, eyeing him confusedly.

"Mister Black, is there something you'd like to share with the class?" Binns asked him.

He shook his head. "No…not that I can think of…"

"Then I would see it fit that you should stop laughing." And the ghost began to drawl on about some odd Uric events.

James threw a piece of parchment at Lily. She read it, smiled, scribbled something down and passed it back. Sirius shifted in his seat and realized he had begun to take notes. He looked back at Remus, who was paying attention, despite the horrid redundancy of it all, and Peter who was copying Remus.

He looked at Lily, who had drawn the name 'James' inside a strawberry.

"Nice strawberry," He complimented her.

She giggled. "It's a heart,"

"Oh," He blushed a little and then returned to his—dare I say—notes.

He was morbidly copying down some notes about the time Uric stayed in room filled with Irish Phoenix for a month when a flying wad of crumpled paper hit him in the head.

"Sorry," James mumbled. "I meant it for Lily…"

Sirius mumbled something incoherent and tossed the note to Lily. She smirked and kissed James on the cheek. This caused Sirius to become very interested in his own thoughts.

What a…doesn't she know I'm supposed to be passing notes with James…? And her hair…is she going for the McGonagall look?

Sirius stared at the red bun atop Lily's head. The more he stared the more it looked like a pumpkin or something of that sort.

"And that, is why we call Uric odd." A few people clapped as Binns finished his lesson with somewhat of a flourish.

Sirius made an exaggerated cry and fell to the floor. Remus and Peter came ambling over to him.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked.

"Death-from-boring-class-must-prank-Snivellus." He writhed on the floor.

"Mm," Remus answered. "Do you need help getting up?"

"No. I'm fine." He said, hopping to his feet. "So…can we do it?"

"What?"

"Prank Snivellus!" Sirius yelled.

Remus looked at him. "You're asking me?"

"No, just giving you the chance to tell me 'no' now."

"Ah," Remus laughed. "I have to tell McGonagall something…I'll see you next class?"

"Yeah…" He trailed off. He suddenly felt like skiving off classes. He wasn't in the mood. He wanted adventure—he hadn't had that since Lily.

So he walked down numerous corridors, admiring the marble floors and arched doorways. He'd probably seen them all, with James, but that was at night under the cloak.

But it wasn't the same.

"James doesn't like me anymore…" He said pathetically to himself, running a hand along the wall, leaving his handprints. "I need James though, without him I can't get anything done,"

His hand hit a huge doorknob. Sirius cursed and looked at the big oaken door. He hadn't seen that one before…

Needless to say he went inside.

A/N: okay don't worry…Sirius wont become 'I'm so hot and all girls want me,' It will all be explained in time.