When Sirius finally trudged up to his dormitory, he found the rest of the Marauders, along with Adam, Matt, and Frank waiting for him.

"Well?" Matt asked eagerly. "What happened? Did you bash her over the head with a chair?"

"What?" Sirius asked, confused.

"Ignore him," Adam said firmly. "We all do."

"Hey!"

"So, what did happen then?" Peter asked.

Other than me trying to kiss her, not much.

"Nothing," Sirius said shortly, and sat down on his bed.

Everyone stared at him. "Nothing?" Frank repeated in a tone of complete disbelief. "Let me get this straight. You and Arabella were in a room, unsupervised, and you actually expect us to believe that neither one of you walked away with at least some broken bones?"

Sirius glared at him. "Do I look like I have any broken bones?"

"You don't. Does Arabella?"

"No! I don't hit girls. Give me some credit."

"There was that one time with Gwen Mitchell--" Remus started.

"I didn't punch her, I hexed her. And she deserved it. Besides, McGonagall took away our wands so we couldn't start a duel. Can you stop with the interrogation already?" he asked irritably, lying down.

"Okay," James said as he adjusted his glasses. "You didn't punch her, you couldn't have hexed her, and you definitely didn't take a chair to her head. So what did happen?"

"Is it--is it okay if I--"

"Yes."

"Sirius?" Remus said tentatively.

Sirius realized that his breathing had become slightly unsteady. He glared at them. "Nothing happened," he said clearly. "So all of you just sod off." He reached up and closed the hangings around his bed.

"Maybe we'd better leave him alone," Peter suggested after a moment. "He seems rather put out."

"Yeah," Matt said, then asked, "You think maybe she took a chair to his head?"

"Matt!"

"What? It's a possibility!"

~*~

"So, what happened?" Lily asked curiously as Arabella collapsed on her bed.

"Nothing," Arabella said in a dull voice, staring up at the ceiling.

"Nothing," Lily repeated flatly. "Nothing happened even though you have been preaching for the past year that Sirius Black is the Antichrist? Even though you can't even stand to be in a room with him?"

"Nothing big happened," Arabella amended. "A few snide comments, some name-calling...nothing major." She closed her eyes.

 "I still like you, although you drive me insane and you've made your disgust for me pretty obvious and even though you're way too stubborn and never listen to anything I say...I still like you."

"Bella? Lily said, sitting on the edge of Arabella's bed. "Bella, what's wrong?"

Arabella opened her eyes and focused on her best friend's face. Her best friend...who had a crush on Sirius.

Somehow she managed to say through the lump in her throat, "It's nothing. It's exhausting trying to hold myself back around Sirius Black, is all."

Lily smiled at her. "Okay. I'm glad no one died. Oh, and there's not going to be a Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match after all."

"What? Why not?" Arabella asked.

Lily shrugged. "Grafton wanted Slytherin to play Ravenclaw. The Slytherin-Ravenclaw match will be next week. Want to watch it with me?"

"Depends. Do we have to sit with Sirius Black?"

Lily tilted her head. "You really don't want to?" she asked.

No, I really don't want to and not for the reasons you think.

"No, I don't."

Lily nodded. "Okay. Sure."

"Thanks. There's only so much of Sirius Black I can take..."

Before I lose my mind and decide to snog him senseless...

~*~

After Potions class, Remus tapped Lily on her shoulder. "Um, Lily? Can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"James's birthday is on the fifth of May and--"

"Oh, I was wondering when his birthday was coming up," Lily said. "What about it?"

"Listen, the other guys and I want to make sure he has a good time. Especially since--has he mentioned anything about his dad?"

"Only that his dad works a lot," Lily said. "He mentioned his dad working on Christmas."

"Yeah," Remus said. "His father has a history of--missing important things--"

"Like birthdays?"

"Yeah. Y'see, his dad's an Auror and what with that lunatic Voldemort running around--"

"He's so busy being an Auror he forgets he's a father too," Lily finished sadly. "Poor James."

"I'd like to think that Mr. Potter will remember about James's birthday, but the chances are it's not going to happen," Remus said. "So even though James's birthday isn't for a month--we really want to get started on the planning. Especially since it's around the same time as the ball."

"Okay," Lily said. "I'd be glad to help. What were you guys thinking?"

"Not quite sure yet," Remus admitted, looking abashed. "That's why we need your help."

Lily laughed.

~*~

"Got the sweets?" James asked as Remus and Sirius walked towards him, both carrying heavy loads of sweets.

Remus gave him a look. "No, James, these are Dungbombs we're carrying, even though they look exactly like sweets."

"We should've brought Dungbombs," Sirius said darkly as the sweets were passed out. "We could throw them at the Slytherins."

"Oh, come on, Padfoot," Remus said lightly. "They haven't really done anything yet."

"They exist, which is reason enough for me," Sirius replied.

"Do we really need to give the Slytherins another reason to hate our guts?" Peter asked, chewing a Chocolate Frog.

"Why not?" James asked recklessly. "We're Marauders, Wormtail. Our objective in life is to cause mayhem. Preferably mayhem directed at making the lives of all Slytherins absolute hell." He looked up to see Lily staring at him, one eyebrow raised quizzically.

"Interesting theory," she remarked.

James grinned at her. "Just being honest."

Lily smiled after a moment. "I'd better get to my seat before everyone starts wondering where I am."

"Who are you sitting with?" James asked.

"Frank, Diane, and Arabella."

Peter looked around. "Well, why don't all of you sit with us?" he asked through a mouthful of chocolate. "There's plenty of room--" Remus nudged him.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Lily said quickly, glancing over at Sirius. Sirius, who had seen the look, scowled.

"I agree," Remus said hastily.

Lily smiled again at them and walked away.

"You didn't have to do that," Sirius said, glaring at Remus. "I would have behaved."

Remus didn't look at all perturbed by Sirius's dark expression. "I thought, and Lily obviously agreed with me, that the less time you spend with Arabella Figg, the better."

"I thought you'd be happy," James said. "You usually try to get as far away from Figg as humanly possible." Then he shot Sirius a strange look. "Just why are you so eager for Lily and her friends to sit with us anyway?"

"No reason," Sirius said quickly.

James continued to stare at him oddly. "You--you don't fancy Lily, or something, do you?"

Sirius's eyes widened. "No!" he exclaimed.

I cannot believe this is happening. I'm being accused of liking the best friend of the girl I actually do fancy.

"I just--don't like being accused of having no self-control, is all," he said with what he hoped sounded like righteous indignation.

"Padfoot, you don't have any self-control when it comes to Arabella Figg--"

You have no idea, Prongs.

"--and Lily just probably wants to make sure that you two don't end up killing each other. I would think you'd be pleased."

"Let's just forget it, alright?" Sirius said, running his hand through his hair. "The game's about to start."

James shrugged. "Okay."