Title: Call It Magic

Series: The Never Ending Story

Author: Seadragon

Genre: Romance/Drama

Rating: Pg-13

Summary: Two years after Hogwarts. James and Sirius are Aurors, just like they always dreamed. May works in the Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Magic. And Lily is getting married. To the wrong person. When the right person shows up again, everyone has a choice to make.

~

Call It Magic

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Chapter 2

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"They called themselves the Marauders, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter." Filch still wore the look of disgust on his face as he stared at the picture of the four boys. "They caused the most trouble of all the students this school has ever had. The Headmaster's favorites. And now, two of them are dead, one's a traitor, and one's a bloody werewolf."

Argus Filch

The Last Stand

Chapter 2: The Future Starts Now

Seadragon

2/01/04

~

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Just a minute!" Sirius yelled. He looked at the living room he was trying to clean without success and sighed. He pulled his wand out of his back pocket and waved it casually. Everything jumped into place and he went to open the door.

"Hello? Oh, hi May." Sirius said awkwardly. He hadn't seen her for three days, since-

"You still love him don't you?" May blurted out.

"What are you talking about?" He growled. "I never did."

"Don't lie to me Sirius Black!" May snapped. "I can see right through you. This is killing you too isn't it? But you won't do anything about it. You'll just sit here and be supportive, when the only thing you want is him!"

Sirius stared at her.

"I know you better than you think Black. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm saying. Because I won't take that bullshit. You might, but I won't. You love him and always have. Ever since you laid eyes on him. But you just sat back and watched as he fell in love with someone else. All those girls were just distractions from what was right in front of your face, weren't they?

"But that's where you and I are different. I won't just sit back and watch the man I love love someone else."

And that was when she stepped forward and pressed her lips against his.

Sirius pulled away immediately.

"May. I do love you, you're a great person. But you just aren't James."

And in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

"That's just my luck." May groaned. "I fell in love with a man, who is in love with his best friend, who is in love with my best friend, who is getting married to a man who has no clue."

~

"So Lily, who was that man in the coffee shop?" Ann asked.

"Just a friend from Hog… School." Lily replied while looking over the invitations for what seemed to be the millionth time to Ann.

"Oh. What was that all about then?"

"It's a really long story Ann. Just forget about it." Lily said.

"He's kind of cute." Ann said slyly.

"James Potter?! You can't be serious!" Suddenly, she chuckled. Ann gave her a weird look. "Never mind, another long story."

"That's kind of cool though, you have the same last name." Ann commented, hoping to get more of the story out of her silent friend.

Lily gave what sounded like a strangled cough. "Whatever. Let's go mail these, I can't find anything wrong with them." She admitted with defeat. Ann knew she was changing the subject, but let it go. For now.

"About time." She muttered.

~

"I do not love James Potter. I do not love James Potter…"

"Of course I do. What's not to love?" Sirius muttered darkly. "This is all his fault. Too damn perfect. I have half a mind to give him a piece of my mind!" Sirius sighed. "No, that won't work either."

Just then the phone rang. Excellent timing if you asked him. Just before he was about to do something insanely stupid. Though, it might not have turned out so bad… Wait. He couldn't think like that. He had to be supportive for James. If he wasn't, who would be?

Sirius ran to pick it up, only to yell into the wrong end. "Damn muggle contraption." He muttered, giving the phone an evil look. Despite the fact he had been using it for quite some time, he never really got the hang of the darn thing. But, it was excessively easier than using the fire place or an owl, so he put up with it.

"Hey Sirius, it's me. I was wondering if you could help me…"

Sirius agreed, said he'd be there in a minute, and sighed again. "I've got to be a damn cursed unlucky bastard. But you know what? I don't love James Potter! So there!"

He put on his coat and shook his head. "Course you do Sirius. Course you do."

~

"Alright Remus, explain this to me again?" Sirius said. "I clearly remember you saying we were going to cheer up James, yet I see him," Sirius looked around for effect. "No where."

"Hell Sirius. He's not the only one who needs cheering up." Remus exclaimed.

"You haven't been talking to May have you?" Sirius muttered darkly.

"No, but I'm not blind." Remus replied.

"We wouldn't want that, would we?" Sirius said.

Remus smiled. "No, of course not. Then where would we be? Now, let's get this straight. You. Will. Never. Have. James. Understand?"

"Oh, that hurts."

"Sirius! I'm being serious!" Remus protested. "God damn your parents, they make our lives so much harder!"

"Hear, hear." Sirius said gloomily.

"But really, you will never get James, so suck it up. We have one goal, only one. And you know what that is, don't you?"

"Get Lily and James together again." Sirius said in a monotone. "Glad to see you're so worried about me."

~

"Just who are James and Sirius?"

"You know them better than me Mark, I hadn't seen them since we left Hogwarts." May protested.

"No I don't. I don't really know anything about them. What exactly were James and Lily? Tell me the truth May." Mark demanded.

May stared him in the eye and bit her tongue. If she told him, who knew what would happen, but she doubted Lily and James would ever see each other again, and that, that would not be good at all.

"They were friends. That's all. They got into a fight before Graduation and never had a chance to reconcile. Nothing more than that. Believe me."

Whether he believed her or not, she wasn't going to tell him the full story. It wasn't hers to tell. Maybe Sirius's, maybe Lily's, definitely James's, but not hers. Never hers. Just like Sirius.

She knew she had lost him, and that she wasn't going to get him back, not the way she wanted. He just couldn't do that, not even for her. He would just pretend everything was okay, and stay out of any relationship that might come his way. Just to leave everything open, just in case.

In case of what, May wasn't sure. What did Sirius want? Besides James that is. But she knew he would try his hardest to get Lily and James back together no matter what he may feel. Because he wanted the best for James, and at the moment, Lily was the best.

But she was untouchable right now. She was engaged, and planning her wedding. They would have to step lightly, or it would all be over before it even had a chance to begin. And that wouldn't work for any of them.

~

Things weren't going so well for James.

But, you had to think for a minute about this, did they ever? His life had been a mess since day one, and that hadn't changed in his 20 years. All in all, luck hadn't exactly been with him. Sure, he had married the woman he loved, but he had also divorced her. Sure, he had three great friends who he would give his life for, and vice versa, but they suffered because of him.

And now, said woman, Lily, was getting married to someone who didn't know her history, or even her real name, and he had ruined every chance of ever getting back together with her by getting angry.

Once again, his temper was getting the better of him. That really had to change, before something horrible happened. Though, I suppose you could argue that several horrible things have already happened. And it would be true.

But this just topped the list. His best friend was mad at him, because he had gotten angry, again. And now he was alone.

All alone.