Two Squids, Just for You

Disclaimer: All right, the idea of an 'untouchable' (as far as I know) goes completely to Ruth3, and it's absolutely brilliant. I'm in love with the concept, and considering she hasn't updated since late December (2003), I thought I'd have a run at it. So, major plotline credit goes to her, everything else is just from my brain, aside from J.K. Rowling's characters.

Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing, you're awesome and I love feedback! Anything! If you don't like it, tell me (and why you don't, preferably)!

Chapter 3: For Now

"Can you believe him? He's is such a…" Cynthia was at a loss of words describing Sirius's behavior. Jo just nodded silently, indicating she knew what Cynthia meant. Sirius Black was indescribable. He had no set parameters in terms of personality – he could be a total idiot and an arrogant jerk, which he chose to be most often, or a relatively nice, understanding person.

"Jerk?" Lily supplied as she joined Jo and Cynthia, entering the dormitory from the common room, which was still relatively silent.

"Yes." Cynthia agreed. "And he's just so…"

"Conceited?" Lily supplied again. Cynthia smiled.

"Yeah."

"High and mighty?" Jo offered.

"Yes. Exactly." Cynthia agreed again. "Stupid prat, he is."

"Reminds me of you." Margie Stevens remarked, the other Gryffindor sixth year who shared a dormitory with Jo, Lily, Alice, and Cynthia. Margie easily wasn't the nicest person, and it was known throughout the school that she and Cynthia loathed each other. 'Loath' was a word Margie would use, however, so Cynthia had removed it from her vocabulary and replaced it with 'I have the deepest hatred and utmost disgust'.

"Was I speaking to you, Conolly?" Cynthia snapped, glaring at Margie, who lay on her bed at the far end of the dormitory. "Since when does your opinion matter to me?"

"Cyn, don't bother." Lily murmured softly. Immediately Cynthia's face softened, and she turned her back to Margie.

"Gonna listen to that Mudblood?" Margie taunted, smirking slightly. Cynthia whirled around, her face contorted in rage. She stalked over to Margie's bed, and stared down at the girl, her hands on her hips.

"Don't you dare call Lily a Mudblood!" Cynthia screeched, looking as though she was trying to restrain herself from attacking Margie physically. "Insult me all you want, Stevens, but don't you EVER insult my friends again!"

Cynthia had changed, and this action proved it. If in a situation such as this during her first year at Hogwarts, Cynthia would have acted completely different way. She would have laughed about the lack of insults toward her – 'Run out of insults for me, then, have you?' or gotten mad at Margie for implying she couldn't make her own decisions. Cynthia was still bitchy, but at least she cared about her friends. A lot.

Margie backed off slightly, grabbing her wand and yanking the drapes around her bed, and Cynthia returned to friends. Jo, Alice, and Lily continued a more hushed conversation about Black's antics, pretending the incident hadn't occurred. They happened rather often, Margie and Cynthia getting into huge rows about whatever differences they had. It was best just to continue on.

"Well, Cyn, he's just being him." Alice concluded. Since Cynthia would forgive Sirius in a few days, there really wasn't a point to continually ranting about him.

"Yeah, I s'ppose. Doesn't mean he has to be a sexist pig though…" Cynthia agreed, before her soft blue eyes flickered mischievously and fell upon Lily. "So, you danced with Potter…" Cynthia smiled innocently, with a taunting tone in her voice as she spoke.

Lily shrugged. "Yeah. So?"

"What's he like??" Jo squealed, the only one of the four who didn't know about the contract. Jo had arrived at Hogwarts in their second year, having moved to England with her family from Italy. She had been born in London, and moved to Italy when she was four, before moving back to England when her father got a job at the Ministry.

"He's a prat. A nice prat." Lily replied huffily.

"Ooh, touchy, are we?" Jo taunted playfully.

Lily smiled weakly. "I'm not even going to bother. We're not going anywhere."

"Not even as friends, Lils?" Cynthia asked quietly, a pang of guilt emerging in her chest. "I mean, it wouldn't hurt for you to be friends, would it?"

"No, I s'ppose not." Lily admitted. Unless I fall for him. But I won't.

The next morning the door of the sixth year girls' dormitory swung open and banged against the wall behind it loudly.

Alice sat up immediately, trying to distinguish through her blurred vision who had just knocked the door down. Her blonde hair was a mess of frizzy curls and her eyes were puffy.

"Black? Potter?" Alice asked in disbelief, as two blurry figures approached her. One had a mop of untamable black hair, the other with long, smooth black hair, and both were very tall and well built. Even though Alice didn't know them that well, it wasn't difficult to pick out the two most 'desirable' boys in her year.

"Mornin' Prewett!" Sirius greeted cheerily, before his eyes widened as they landed on her body. She was in a bra and boxer shorts, and because she was sitting, her blankets had fallen off her chest, exposing a white bra, patterned with pink and red hearts. "Holy frig Prewett! You're dating Longbottom when you can look like that?"

Immediately Alice blushed a deep red, and pulled her blankets back up over her chest. Sirius and James laughed, before being interrupted by a sleepy and somewhat grumpy Cynthia.

"Did you just say 'holy frig', Black?" Cynthia asked, pushing herself from the bed and joining James and Sirius, who were standing around Alice's bed. Ignoring the fact that Sirius was gaping at her sleepwear, she looked at him expectantly. Unlike Alice, Cynthia was not embarrassed about being in a bra and pajama bottoms – she showed off her lacy blue bra with pride.

"Err… Yeah. James is making me work on my swearing." Sirius explained, not even trying to hide the fact that he couldn't keep his eyes off Cynthia's chest.

Cynthia's eyes narrowed, remembering she was mad at Sirius, and immediately went to her wardrobe, where she retrieved a silk bathrobe and wrapped it around her, glaring at Sirius.

"What?" Sirius protested. "Just takin' a peek."

Cynthia opened her mouth to argue but was interrupted by James, who was looking hopefully in the direction of Lily's bed. "Does Lily sleep in the same… attire that you two do?"

"Nah." Cynthia said with a smile. "Normally something a little more… classy."

A groan emitted from Lily's corner of the room, and the curtains surrounding her four-poster separated, revealing Lily, dressed in a silk emerald green nightie that only fell to mid-thigh, and was held onto her petite form by two black lace straps that were less than an inch wide. Her eyes widened as they fell upon James and Sirius, both of whom looked gob smacked.

"What the hell are you doing here?!?" Lily demanded, brushing a strand of hair from her face before putting her hands on her hips.

"We came to take you down to breakfast." Sirius replied innocently, James nodding dumbly in agreement. "Not bad Evans."

"I'm never wearing this again, Cyn, remind me." Lily said coolly, trying to keep herself from blushing. No one was supposed to see her in this, especially not Black or P-James.

"But you look so nice, Lily." James protested, breaking away from his stupor.

Lily smiled evenly. "Whatever, James."

"So can we escort you lovely ladies to the Great Hall for some breakfast?" Sirius asked politely, obviously trying to get himself back into Cynthia's good books.

"No. We have to change." Cynthia replied casually.

"I don't see a problem with that, do you, Jamesie?" Sirius replied cheekily. James just blushed slightly, causing Lily to frown. Did James Potter just blush? Is he even capable of being embarrassed?

"Get out, Black. If you must, you can wait for us in the common room." Cynthia snapped, sending the boys glares that drove them from the room.

"How did they even get up the stairs?" Alice wondered aloud, as she pulled off her blankets and began looking through her wardrobe.

"Al, they're Marauders, they can do almost anything at this school if they put their mind to it." Lily replied in an it's-so-obvious tone.

"Yeah Al," Cyn added in a tone identical to Lily's as she pulled a blue sweater over her head. "They're Marauders. Duh."

"I finally understand why you like Evans so much, Jamesie-boy." Sirius muttered quietly as he James trailed the girls down the corridors to breakfast. The girls, who were chatting animatedly only a few feet ahead, had their arms linked and were giggling, Alice having lost her bedhead, Lily no longer in a silk nightie but a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and Cynthia still in a bad mood.

"What's that supposed to mean?" James asked, a bewildered look crossing his face.

"She's bloody gorgeous, that's what I mean." Sirius replied, quite loudly, causing both Lily and Cynthia to glance back at them with skeptical looks. Sirius smiled innocently, before jogging to catch up with them, swinging an arm over Cynthia's shoulders. Cynthia glared at him, and pushed his arm off, before increasing her speed.

"Oh, come on Cyn!" Sirius protested, chasing after her and ignoring the looks he was receiving as they entered the Great Hall.

"Don't think I've forgotten what a sexist pig you are, Black." Cynthia replied coolly, taking a seat at the Gryffindor table and wearing a look of distaste as Sirius sat next to her.

"Oh, come on Cyn!" Sirius repeated. "You know I didn't mean it! I never mean things I say!"

"Oh, shut it. I'm not in the mood to hear this from you." Cynthia replied, heaving some home fries onto her plate.

"You're NEVER in the mood to 'hear this from' me!" Sirius replied angrily, the volume in his voice rising.

"And I NEVER will be, Black." Cynthia replied, before childishly turning in her seat to face Alice, who sat on her other side. Sirius groaned and turned away from her, only to be met by James's backside as he conversed with Lily.

"So you like Quidditch?" James exclaimed. "I never saw you as that sort of person!"

"Just because I don't talk about it all the time, doesn't mean I don't like it. It's a great game to watch." Lily defended.

"Favourite team?"

"Appleby Arrows."

"Why?" James asked, trying not to sound too excited. He loved the Appleby Arrows.

"I dunno, I s'ppose because they're a well rounded team. I think Fabian is an amazing captain. Why, what's your favourite team?"

"You mean Fabian Prewett?" James asked, looking star-struck. "Fabian PREWETT, the captain of my all time favourite team.

"You like the Arrows then too?" Lily laughed. "Yes, Fabian PREWETT." She clarified, imitating James almost exactly. "He's quite nice too, very modest."

"You've met him?"

This sent Lily into a burst of laughter. "You've never realized," Lily choked out as she gasped for air between bouts of laughter, "That Alice happens to have the same last name? Implying they might be related?"

"They're related?!?"

"He's her older brother!" Lily exclaimed. "Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, are we Potter?"

"Sharpest knife in the drawer?" James asked with a confused face. "Where'd you get that from?"

"It's a muggle expression."

"You're muggle-born?"

"You didn't know? You haven't noticed Slytherins calling me 'mudblood' in the corridors?" Lily retorted defensively.

"They do? Which ones?" James asked, his confusion melting into anger. "I'll hex 'em all to Surrey and back."

Lily smiled slightly. "Don't bother, James. It doesn't bother me much anymore. They can think what they want."

James grunted and shoveled a spoonful of oatmeal into his mouth. "So – "

"Finish your mouthful first, James." Lily interrupted with a look of distaste. Seeing food in his mouth was gross enough, but she wasn't pleased that she was sounding like his mother.

"Yes Mum." James chided as he swallowed, receiving a glare from Lily. "So, as I was saying, if you're muggle-born, your family members are muggles."

"That's normally what the term implies, yes James." Lily replied, hiding a smile. I hope it's just because it's early and he's really not this stupid.

James nodded and took another spoonful of oatmeal, swallowing before speaking. "My parents are aurors. Both went to Hogwarts."

Lily nodded. "Any brothers or sisters?"

"No. Just me. And Sirius. He lives with my family during the summer, since he got kicked out."

"His parents kicked him out?" Lily asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. They're all for that no muggle-borns crap." James replied, looking sour. "But what about you, any siblings?"

"Two. An older sister, Petunia, and a younger sister, Rose." Lily explained. "My mum has a thing for flowers."

"Yours is the prettiest. Not as pretty as you, though." James replied without thinking.

"What?"

"I meant, your flower, lilies. They're the prettiest out of the three."

"Oh."

"Yeah. 'Petunia' you say? What's she like?" James asked quickly, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, she's awful. She hates Rose and me because we're witches, and she makes my life miserable during the holidays. She calls me a 'freak' just because I can do magic."

"That's horrible, Lily. Really." James said sympathetically.

Lily smiled weakly. "She's not half as bad as her boyfriend. He's just… really horrible."

James laughed. He couldn't believe he was sitting next to Lily Evans, having a decent conversation with her. She looked like she was actually enjoying herself, and he knew that he was.

The bell rang for the start of classes, and James hopped up before offering a hand to Lily, and pulling her up. Lily smiled as he did, their faces only a few inches apart. James could feel her breath on his chin, and felt himself leaning into to kiss her, but she quickly swept away, waving briefly as she left the hall.

Just friends for now, James. James reminded himself as he gathered both his and Lily's things. In her rush to escape him, she had forgotten her bag, but luckily they had Transfiguration together first, so he could give it to her. Just friends… for now.