And here we have chapter 3! Sorry I've been taking so long in between chapters but my senior year has been a busy one so far. I'm hoping I'll have one totally free day sometime soon where I can just spend the evening writing and get a few chapters ahead. Unfortunately I don't see that happening, but you never know! Haha.

-hanabanana616: I hate those fics too! It's too unrealistic for two people who hate each other to suddenly fall in love out of the blue. So that's why I'm trying to make this story a bit more believable. I'm glad you like it!

-Padfootz-luvr: I took your advice about changing my settings. I didn't even know it was set to signed reviews only, so thanks for that! And thanks for reviewing!

Also to dream-or-cry, Angel Skykitten, siriuszsecretlover, and Canadian Coco Chick (yay Canada!): I'm so glad you guys are enjoying the story. Thanks so much for giving me your feedback!

Well now that I've written practically a novel in only my intro to the chapter, I'll get back to my story! Hehe. Oh and just so you know, when the words are in italics it's what the person is thinking. I know that's probably pretty clear but I just wanted to say it just in case there was any confusion. So here it is. Enjoy!

"Amazing shoulder massages, abs of steel, top-notch Quidditch player, sensitive to a woman's needs, enjoys long walks on the beach. Oh for Merlin's sake." Lily said to herself as she walked through the front entrance of St. Mungos.

In her hand was a list Sirius had compiled and brought to the café where he had met her and James for breakfast that morning. The list consisted of what he thought to be 50 of his 'most redeeming qualities' and Lily was instructed to work each and every one of them into conversation with Melissa over the next week. 'And I thought James was full of himself.' She mused as she crumpled up the paper and tossed it into the garbage can. That list would give Melissa a good laugh more than anything else.

Lily made her way towards the lift and was about to get on when she heard her name being called from behind her. Turning around, she saw Melissa hurrying towards her and waving her arms. "Hold the lift!" she yelled, half out of breath.

Lily got in and held the door open for her as she finally made her way there. "In a rush are we?" Lily chuckled. It was clear that Melissa was running way behind schedule that morning. She was holding all kinds of loose papers in her hands which she was trying to get organized, and she looked as if she was struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Oh you have no idea," Melissa replied. "I was up so late last night finishing up the readings, I slept in 45 minutes late this morning and then I was so out of it that I flooed to the Ministry by accident. It's basically just been a disastrous morning." She said, beginning to giggle herself.

"So anyways," she continued, "now that that's out of the way, how have you been Lils? I haven't seen you at all since we left Hogwarts except for that one dinner at the Ministry and we didn't even have much time to talk then."

"Well," Lily began as they reached their floor and stepped out of the lift, joining the crowd of people waiting for the classroom doors to open, "I've been doing really well actually. Work is great, I'm really enjoying it. James and I are doing great, and everything else has been really good too. I can't complain at all. How about you?"

"Oh I've been alright. I can't be as lucky as you and have a great boyfriend but I love my job and I'm pretty content."

Melissa stopped talking as the door opened. Standing in the entrance way was a tall, buff-looking man with blonde hair, tanned skin and piercing blue eyes. "Hello everyone, I'm Alex. Please come on in and take a seat, and we'll get started."

Melissa looked as if she was about to start drooling. "Wow," she said as they moved with the crowd into the classroom. "If he's the teacher, I'm going to love this class."

"So you and Potter are still together eh? That's awesome Lily. I mean, it still kind of blows my mind after all this time that you two actually put your pride aside and accepted that you had feelings for one another. I thought it would never happen." Melissa said as she and Lily each took a seat in the cafeteria and began their lunches.

"Are you saying that you knew me and James fancied each other even before we did?" Lily laughed.

"Are you kidding? Of course! It was the most obvious thing in the world and I wasn't even in Gryffindor. If a Ravenclaw can see the sparks between two people in a totally different house, then I'd say it's pretty obvious," she replied, before taking a big bite of her turkey club sandwich.

"Yes, I suppose it was pretty obvious. It just kills me that everyone seemed to know before we did. It's too bad we didn't figure it out sooner because he's just the greatest guy. I can't even put into words how much I love him." Lily said, blushing.

Melissa grinned and placed her hand on Lily's shoulder. "Aw, honey that's too cute. I'm so glad you and him are happy. So do you think he's, you know, the one?"

Lily didn't even take a second to think before responding. "You know Mel, I really do. I mean, we haven't really discussed the future. I know we've been together for a couple years now but only 6 months of that has been in the real world outside of school. I don't want to bring up our future and scare him or anything."

"Honestly Lily, I bet he's having the same thoughts you are. You know you two belong together. Everyone knows that. You guys were already like a little married couple in seventh year! I bet you two even met for breakfast this morning before you got here."

"Oh my gosh, are we that predictable?" Lily said as she thought back to her breakfast that morning with James and Sirius. 'Wait a minute. What a perfect opportunity'. "Yeah we did meet for breakfast this morning. Me, James and Sirius went to this lovely little café a few blocks away."

"Black tagged along did he?" Melissa replied in a less friendly tone. "Can't even let a happy couple be alone together."

'Uh oh. This doesn't look good.' "Oh, no no no," Lily corrected her. "It wasn't like that at all. We meet for breakfast every Monday. It was something I started so we'd be able to wake up and get going. You know how Mondays are. Remus usually joins us as well but he had an early meeting and Peter comes along when he can, but he needs to get all the way over to Diagon Alley so he has trouble fitting it in. The poor guy can hardly get up early enough to make it to work on time, let alone making time for breakfast with us. But yes, as I was saying, Sirius isn't intruding at all."

"Ohh ok. Sorry, I guess I sort of made my usual assumptions about Black." Melissa replied. "So it's the Marauders and Lily most Mondays is it? I know Remus works at the Ministry because I see him around the building now and then, but what's Peter been up to since graduation? I haven't seen him at all."

"Well, Peter moves around between jobs quite a bit. Gets work wherever he can. You know how it is with him, not the best grades. He's been at Flourish and Blotts for about a month and a half now though and he seems pretty happy there." said Lily as she finished her chicken Caesar salad.

"Well that's good. I'm glad he's found something. I never really knew him all that well. Didn't really know any of those guys too well, but I always felt sorry for him when we had classes together. He just couldn't catch on. Poor guy."

"Yeah, I know," Lily agreed. "He really is a good guy. He's been a good friend. But do you mind if I go back to another Marauder for a second? You seem to really dislike Sirius. What's that all about if you guys didn't really know each other?"

"Oh. Black." Melissa began, "Well it's not like I hate him or anything. I'm sure he's a nice guy if you're friends with him, and I know he has a decent sense of humour and I won't even try to deny that he's probably one of the best looking guys I've ever seen. But it's not all about looks. I just don't think he knows how to treat women and that's the biggest turn-off for me."

"Well I know he's pretty popular with the girls and I suppose his numbers aren't that low but I really don't think he'd ever purposely hurt someone." Lily responded. When she had first been given the task to make Sirius sound good to this woman she hasn't really wanted it, but now she found herself very eager to defend his honour. Sirius was one of her best friends. She loved him like a brother and she really didn't want Melissa to think so poorly of him.

Melissa pondered this for a minute before speaking again. "Maybe he doesn't hurt people purposely but he certainly doesn't seem to care when it does happen. I guess my view of him goes back to 6th year. He dated Gabby briefly. You remember Gabrielle Valetta right? Me and her were really close in school."

Lily nodded and Melissa continued.

"Well Gabby was just smitten with Black. She totally fell for the charm and the lines and that grin of his. To make a long story short, I'll just say that she was pretty much in love with him when she found out he'd been shagging two skanky little 4th year girls from Hufflepuff the whole time. Apparently he didn't know that she thought they had an actual relationship going and he claimed he was sorry but he sure didn't act too sorry. It was like after he realized she actually cared about him he didn't want to get tied down and he totally ignored her after that. She was crushed and I spent so many nights comforting her. Since then I've just seen Black as some womanizer who doesn't care who he hurts."

Of all the things Melissa could have said, Lily was not expecting this. Sirius had hurt one of her best friends and she really wasn't sure she'd be able to change her opinion of him now. She was actually starting to change her mind about wanting to. Lily knew what Sirius was like in school. She knew James was the same before they got together. (Though she tried not to think about that.) But hearing about a specific person who was heartbroken by his behaviour really upset her. She decided she'd have to smack him for it the next time she saw him.

"Oh no," Lily replied after letting the story sink in. "I never knew about Gabby. She was such a sweet girl too. You know Mel, it really makes me angry to hear things like that that Sirius did, but that was a long time ago. He was still an immature 16 year old then. He's honestly a really great guy and he's very protective of those he cares about and like you said the sense of humor and good looks are an added bonus."

Melissa's expression had softened a bit, but she still looked skeptical. "So you're telling me that Black's now a one-woman man? No more playing the field?"

'Great. Talk about being stuck in a corner.' Lily thought to herself. She was telling the truth about him being a good guy and taking care of the people close to him, but saying he didn't 'play the field' anymore would be an outright lie.

"You know, I really think Sirius's problem is that he hasn't found anyone he's ready to commit to yet. But when he finds that girl and shows her that caring, protective, sensitive side of himself that a lot of people don't get to see, she's going to be one of the luckiest women around. I can guarantee that."

'There we go. I told the truth, no lies, and I made him sound pretty damn good.' Thought Lily, feeling satisfied with the response she had mustered up. The truth was it wasn't that hard to come up with. She really did believe that and she knew Sirius would make a great boyfriend, even husband one day.

"Wow, you seem pretty fond of Sirius. You sure you picked the right guy?" Melissa said through a chuckle.

Lily laughed as well. "Oh I'm sure. James is my guy, but his best friend has become one of my best friends as well. But anyways, enough about the boys. Have you been to that awesome new boutique just outside the Leaky Cauldron in Muggle London?"

The two girls finished their lunch hour discussing clothes, makeup and work before heading back up to their class. Lily had figured that too much "Sirius talk" would be a bit suspicious. She didn't know yet what she'd tell him that night since she wasn't totally sure if she had swayed Melissa's opinion of him much with her little speech about his future lucky girlfriend.

Though Lily did notice that Melissa went from "Black" to "Sirius" pretty quickly. Maybe she did have a bit of an impact.

'Only time will tell.'

Author's Note: Kind of a boring chapter. I didn't particularly like it because James and Sirius weren't in it and they're my comic relief. However, I did need to fit it in there to establish what Melissa's problem with Sirius is and get her and Lily talking again. I also needed to briefly introduce Alex. Why is Alex important you ask? Well you'll just have to keep on reading to find out! :D Anyways, I hope this chapter was alright and I promise the next one will be less serious and have more Sirius. (Heh) So please keep on reviewing and checking back for chapter 4 which I hope to have up this week!