She sat huffily on the comfy couch placed near the fireplace, angrily throwing her books down on the carpet. In curiosity, her best friend looked up at her.

It was already half past seven in the evening, with the stars shining bright upon the dark, night sky. The wind was blowing harshly as usual, with rain lashing out on the windows and tree branches swaying dangerously with the wind. Somehow, it matched Lily's mood perfectly.

"Something wrong, Lils?" asked Aurora, who just stopped writing her Charms essay to question her best friend.

"I just witnessed Potter dump his flavor-of-the-week." Lily said grumpily, sighing exasperatedly as she remembered the disastrous face the girl had on her face. She couldn't remember her name – it was probably Joan Carlson, a Ravenclaw fifth year, but Lily probably wouldn't care.

She was too pissed off about James's 'flavor-of-the-week' method.

Trashing girls about like they're useless pieces of trash.

How…weak.

"Really now, Lils, you've been using 'Potter' so often for the past three weeks. If you continue that, people might think you're not even friends." Aurora remarked, turning back to her unfinished essay.

"But he's been so annoying!!!! How can he use girls like that?"

Aurora placed her blue eyes once again on the redheaded girl, raising her eyebrows inquiringly. "How come you're so worked up about that, anyway? You're not the one who's being used, you know."

Lily sighed again. "Aurora, what if you were the one being used just like that?"

"Well," Aurora paused, thinking of an appropriate answer. "I'd make sure I wouldn't be stupid enough to fall for a guy like that."

Silence passed between the friends, being drowned immediately by the noise erupting from the Gryffindors in the common room. People were up and about, chattering around, laughing happily like they had no care in the world.

"What if…" Lily started to murmur. Deep inside of her, she just wanted to say it – it seemed too hard to keep it all to herself. "You fell for a guy like that?"

Aurora suddenly turned to her. "Did you say something, Lily?"

"Nope…I didn't say anything."

*

Half past nine.

Lily silently sat on the edge of her bed, trying to sort out the thoughts swimming in her head. Not even the loud, ear-deafening laughs and conversations of Divina McKeller and her little group of prissy friends could distract her from her thinking. Eyes cast on the ruby red carpet; she tightened her grip on the scarlet duvet she was sitting on.

What was she feeling, anyway? Why was she so worked up about the fact that James and Sirius had their flavors-of-the-week? She was comfortable with their little 'game' ever since it stared – just last year, in fact. So how come she wasn't comfortable with it now?

The redhead raised her gaze and looked around the room – Aurora wasn't inside their dormitory yet. Divina McKeller & Marianne Avant (missing a third member by the name of Kristin Walker), two of her fellow female sixth years, was chatting oh-so-noisily by their beds, giggling like mad. Lily assumed they were talking about boys again.

Feeling lonely that Aurora wasn't around, she took a glance of the room once again. Something shiny caught her attention.

It was there once again, the pocket-sized mirror Sirius used to spy on people. With a snort, she pushed through the small crowd of girls by the other end of the room and snatched the mirror.

"Hey —! Evans, what do you think you're doing?" said Divina, surprised that Lily just barged in the middle of their conversation.

"Nothing that you should know about, McKeller." Lily said coolly, walking to the door. Just when Divina was about to retort, the door was slammed shut, and Aurora Melpomene Callaway stood in her place, arms laden with books and rolls of parchment.

*

"Someone took the mirror!" exclaimed Sirius Black, jumping up from his four-poster and alarming his fellow Marauders. "I can't hear Divina anymore – someone took the mirror!"

James Potter sighed and tightened his hold on the sixth year girl in his arms, Kristin Walker. He was satisfied he was able to find his pick-of-the-week.

"Calm down, Sirius." Said James, while Remus snickered as he put his attention back on his book. "It's just a mirror."

Sirius glared at him, his dark-hued hair falling gracefully around his face. "Just a mirror?! It's the mirror, James! It's one of the most wonderful mirrors in the world!"

Kristin scrunched up her nose. "What is, like, this mirror anyway?"

"It's a very special mirror, Kris," James tried explaining it in the simplest way – Kristin wasn't exactly the most intelligent person in the world. "Sirius loves his mirror very much."

"I do not! It's just a very useful mirror!"

Someone coughed loudly at the other side of the room, making four pairs of eyes turn to the figure standing on the doorway. Peter Pettigrew was once again nowhere to be found – he was in the infirmary for falling onto the trick step in one of the staircases. Frank Longbottom, meanwhile, was still downstairs at the common room.

"Don't worry your ass off, Sirius — I have your mirror." Said a feminine voice, confidently striding down the aisle to drop off the mirror on Sirius's lap. Copper-hued hair swayed rhythmically with her steps, her long lounging robe touching the ruby carpet of the boys' dormitory. Her pale complexion glowed silently under the candlelight, her slipper-wearing feet avoiding the abundance of clothes strewn across the floor. 

"Oh Lils, you are such a lifesaver!" Sirius said happily, pulling Lily down in a tight bear hug. Lily squirmed, trying to wring herself free from the heartthrob's grip, letting go of the said mirror and letting it land on Sirius's bed. She wasn't actually comfortable with Sirius hugging her like this – so tight, his hug was, to the point that Lily found it hard to breathe.

"Sirius, let go of Lily before she dies." Said Remus knowingly, seeing the gagged look Lily had upon her face. James and Kristin were staring at the two.

"Listen to — Remus — Sirius — you don't — want me — dead!" Lily choked out, pushing her hands against Sirius' chest to free her body from him. Sirius happily obliged, taking the lost mirror and placing it next to its partner.

"The next time you want to spy on us, Sirius," said Lily amusedly, although Remus could detect that she was hiding something behind her tone, "Use something else."

Padfoot smirked. "Surely, milady." He faked a bow in front of Lily and snickered, lips turning into a foul scowl as he saw someone else standing by the doorway.

"I was wondering where you'd been, Lils," said a voice, presumably Aurora's. Lily turned around to see Aurora standing where she had been a few minutes ago, a glare etched upon her face as she saw Sirius.  

Lily tried to avoid the glances James and Kristin were giving her. Deep in her heart, she wanted to shove Kristin off James's lap. But of course, she fought the urge. "Shouldn't have worried, Mel."

Aurora glared — at her, this time. "Who're you calling Mel?! I told you not to call me by that!"

Sirius smirked. "Mel? How come it's Mel? Is it some kind of horrendous middle name or something?"

Aurora glared once again. "Shut up, Orion."

Sirius flinched. "Who told you that?!"

"I have my sources."

"Ooh, I'll make sure I'll found out what 'Mel' means, Callaway!"

"Really now! Try or die trying, Black!"

"Don't say that to me — I'll definitely know what that means, Callaway! You'll soon regret that you challenged me, Sirius Black!"

"What a real egotistical head you have, Orion. No wonder you can't get through doors."

"Like you have a deflated head, Mel. It's more of a wonder you manage to get your clothes over your head."

"Pity nothing can enter your head, Black."

Sirius snorted. "Like anything can enter yours."

"I learn things, Black. Just like now — I learned how much of a bigheaded git you are — Oh wait, I learned that fact years ago. No need to repeat that."

Lily and Remus flinched. This was one thing about Aurora they couldn't handle – her temper. She was even scarier than a redhead if she lost her patience. And surely, right now, her patience was ebbing away. Better to stow Aurora away from the boys' dormitory rather than to stay here…

"C'mon Aurora, let's go." Lily said softly, striding towards her friend and grabbing her by the arm, also unconsciously throwing a glare at James and his pick-of-the-week.

"But Lils —

"Backing out, are you?" Sirius hollered after them, laughing evilly as Remus shut the door. Remus could be heard reprimanding Sirius about his and Aurora's little fight, which Aurora was grateful for.

And silently, with Lily quietly fuming about how close James and Kristin was, they made their way to the girls' dorm.

*

It was probably near midnight, with every four-poster having its draperies closed, signaling that the occupant was already asleep. One, though, was wide-awake, staring at the top of the scarlet canopy. Sleep finally gave up on trying to conquer her senses — too much was going on inside her mind.

Lily tightened her grip on a handful of her sheets. She couldn't solve the stupid problem that kept plaguing her mind every time she tried to close her eyes. She tried to erase the image from her mind's eye but nothing happened. Every time she'd close her eyes, images of her best friend always appeared to her, therefore she couldn't get any sleep.

The redhead couldn't understand it. For the past three weeks of the month of October, she's been feeling very strange around her best friend, something secretly eating her up inside every time. Her stomach felt that it was entangled in huge knots, flip-flopping, also feeling like butterflies were fluttering inside. Her hands always felt clammy and her voice seemed to crack. She always smiled uncontrollably when James was smiling at her, a grin just creeping upon her lips when she really didn't want it to. Lily also found herself staring after the sixteen-year-old Gryffindor Chaser, only to shake her head to push herself out of her trance a while later.

In all of her years of being friends with James Potter, she never really paid attention to the once skinny, tall kid with weird hair and glasses. She always thought of James as James, the prankster, the girl-loving playboy and nothing more — more importantly, as a friend. But now, after five years of friendship, her heart was secretly longing for more….

How? She didn't know. But why now, you ask? Lily smiled to herself, knowing what the answer was. It was at this time she suddenly noticed everything about James – she could probably notice anything about James, well, of course, other than Sirius. Lily giggled – Sirius was sometimes too dumb to even notice that James was out of character. Maybe that's why Aurora hated him…

She loved the way James's hair stuck up at the ends, giving it an adorable ruffled look; but she hated it when James ruffled it up just to make girls notice how…uh…cute he was. She loved James's hazel-colored eyes, which can sparkle in mischief and glimmer in kindness, always captivating her. She loves James's soothing voice, always laughing or telling jokes; disguised in hushed whispers and comforting words that always made Lily cheer up for the day. She loved the way his arms would encircle around her and comfort her silently when she cries; she found it hard to tell anyone about the things she usually cries about, afraid that Aurora or Sirius would find it utterly shallow. But James never did, since James always understood.

And that was the thing she loved about him the most. He understood everything about her, all her secrets, and all her frustrations when the tests are near…

In shorter terms, Lily loved James.

And that was the darkest of her secrets.

She couldn't bring up the topic of 'Oh hi James, do you know I love you?' so easily — she knew it never was easy to say those things. Lily often wondered on how his fan girls managed to say it out loud – on huge banners, even.

But another fear was eating her up inside.

Lily sighed and thought it was better to tackle her fear on the next sleepless night, for sleep was starting to overcome her. Settling at a comfortable position, Lily closed her eyes and went to sleep.

*

"Gee…I wonder how late Lily stayed up last night…"

"BLACK?! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"James's been really frantic about something that Lily did to him yesterday – been worrying about it the whole night. Don't remember much…I haven't been listening."

"Like anything can enter your brain anyway."

"Why you —"

"Hey, at least I listen to Lily if she has problems."

"I bet she has a HUGE problem right now and you don't even know about it."

She threw a pillow over her shoulder, not even caring to open her eyes and check if she hit the two. "Will you two shut the hell up?! I'm still sleeping here!" she mumbled angrily, burying her head on the rest of the pillows.

"Oh, finally, you're awake." Aurora said, plopping on her bed as Sirius followed her. She glared at him before turning back to Lily. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Lily grumbled once again. "I don't have any idea and I don't care."

"It's already noon." Sirius said simply, running a hand through his hair.

With that, Lily bolted up, apparently finding the fact that she had slept for 12 hours unbelievable. Her long, red hair was a tangled mess as she sat up, rubbing her eyes as if to clear her line of vision.

"NOON?!" Lily screamed, starting to dart around the room to gather her stuff and take a shower. Just as she was about to set foot on the bathroom tiles, Sirius coughed.

"It's a Saturday."

Lily sighed in relief. "Thank God." She turned to Sirius. "So Sirius, please, kindly leave the girls' dormitory so I could have a decent bath."

"You're going to be a room away anyway."

Aurora smirked. "Yes, Lily would be a room away. It means you are going to stay with me, in the girls' dormitory. Why Sirius, you're falling in love with me, aren't you?"

Scrunching up his nose, Sirius stuck out his tongue in a child-like manner and started to stalk out of the room. "Be stuck with you? O c'mon, no way, Callaway. Maybe it's you who wants to be stuck with me…" he said with a snicker, resulting in a scarlet pillow being thrown to his direction.

"Eew! I certainly don't want to be stuck with you, an overly large headed —

Lily held up a hand. "I think it would be best if I took a shower in silence. That means you two should stop."

Sirius stuck out his tongue again and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him as Aurora glared for the umpteenth time this year. With peace and quiet finally befalling the room, Lily smiled and entered the huge and intricately decorated bathroom.

Why You Annoy Me: Part 2

Author's notes: I'm still deciding if I want to print this for me to read all over again (check any mistakes and all that) while I'm at school…

Special Author's notes: To great author Dimantrien (if you're reading this): I hope you don't take the name 'Aurora', my OC, as a form of plagiarism. I really didn't have the idea to copy your OC's name – I came across the name 'Aurora' in my Mythology book, then added 'Melpomene' to it and poof! I hope you don't mind!

Thank you so much, my first reviewers, for giving me inspiration! For some weird reason, my brain always wanders off to what could happen between Sirius and Aurora. Anyone who wants anything on that pairing, please tell me! ^^ I'd be happy to make another story about them. ^^

Please, R&R! Any ideas, I'm glad to hear them!