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"I don't believe you," Lily told Gari in the common room one night. It had been one week since the incident with the gelatin, and Lily's green skin had only gone away yesterday. Now, Gari and Rayven were helping Lily catch up with the work she had missed.

Gari glanced up briefly from her Advanced Transfiguration for Seventh Years book to acknowledge Lily. "What?"

"I said I don't believe you," Lily repeated. Her gaze shifted from Gari to Sirius, who was talking to James in a corner of the room. "It was only four weeks ago that you said you hated him." Lily paused and put on Gari's slightly different accent. "I can't take another year of him!" Gari blushed and turned back to her book. "Was that not exactly what you said?"

"Things change, Lily," Gari replied. She glanced up quickly at Sirius, who was waiting for her gaze. He gave her a quick wink, and then turned back to his conversation with James.

"It is a total turn around, Gari," Rayven added. "I mean, you and Sirius being together…it just came out of nowhere."

Gari shrugged and continued to stare at her book as though it were the most fascinating thing in the world. She hadn't told Rayven and Lily what had happened between her and Sirius last week, and now more than ever she was certain she wasn't going to. Her friends knew that Gari and Sirius at least had a friendship, but thought it was nothing beyond that, and Gari could believe that. It was one thing for Lily to dislike James, but Lily stuck by that feeling. Gari had done an almost immediate turn around, like Rayven had said. She could understand her friends' confusion.

Rayven and Lily hadn't picked up on any of the subtle things Sirius did. They didn't notice the small winks and held gazes. They didn't think anything of it when Sirius would "accidentally" brush his hand over Gari's hand or leg. This didn't see the private smiles that were just for Gari.

Recalling all of these little acts, Gari couldn't help but give a small smile as she continued to look buried in her book.

After two hours, Rayven and Gari called it quits.

"What?" Lily looked at them pleadingly. "Please, I'm still behind in Astronomy and Care of Magical Creatures."

"Lils, it's almost midnight," Rayven replied, giving a yawn. Her normally alert eyes were subdued. "We're exhausted. You should go to sleep too."

Lily shook her head. "I can't. I've got too much work. I'll catch up on my sleep over the weekend."

Her friends shrugged and said goodnight before heading off to the girls' dormitories. After a few moments, the loneliness of the common room got to Lily, so she sighed and packed up her parchment, quill, and books. She headed out the portrait hole and returned to the Head Tower. When she arrived in the Head common room, she was surprised to see that James had returned as well, and that he was pouring over his astronomy book.

"James?" Lily said. "What are you still doing up?"

James yawned and took off his glasses to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes. "Oh, I have to finish my astronomy homework. I'll probably go to sleep in about…" He glanced down at his piles of parchment in his astronomy book. "Five hours."

Lily smiled a little. "Could you use some company? I'm so behind in astronomy. I…um…could use…your help."

"That sounded very painful for you to say," James replied, giving a half smile. "Of course I'll help you." He paused and watched her as she took out her school things. "I, uh, heard about what happened last week in the Great Hall."

"Well, I no longer look like a mermaid, so that's something," Lily said, trying to make light of the situation. "It was awful though; after I turned completely green, it began to itch like crazy."

James gave her a sympathetic smile. "You're back to your beautiful self now."

Lily glanced up at him and gave him a knowing smile that said thanks-for-your-sympathy-but-don't-start-flirting-again. He took the hint and simply handed her his astronomy notes. She smiled gratefully.

"Thank you," Lily said, taking the notes and quickly scanning them.

"You know, I think that's the first time you've ever said that to me," James replied gently, hoping that she didn't get mad at his joke and smack him.

Lily glanced up. "Well, I haven't had many things to thank you for, have I?"

"I guess not," James admitted. He paused and then smiled somewhat wistfully. "Except for that time in our second year, when we had flying lessons."

"What?" That caught Lily's attention fully, and she shifted to look at him. "What happened in second year?"

James looked surprised. "You don't remember?"

Lily thought for a moment, and then blushed in embarrassment at the memory. "When I fell off my broom."

James nodded. "It was probably our fifth or so lesson of the year, and we were out of on the field. You were so mad that I could so high and not get nervous or scared."

"You were so cocky," Lily added.

"So you got on your broom to show me that you could go just as high as I could," James continued, a slight smile on his face. "But you were trying so hard to catch up that you pulled your broom up so that it was totally vertical, and you slid off."

"I was so terrified," Lily remembered. "I thought I was going to break my back or worse. I'd never seen Miss Hooch so scared either."

James nodded. He'd been terrified too. "I saw you fall and head towards the ground. You were only about four yards up when I caught you." Lily nodded and smiled a little. James added, "That was the reason McGonagall made me seeker later that year."

Lily laughed out loud at that. "So really it's thanks to me that Gryffindor has won the cup each year since you joined?"

James nodded and laughed too. "I guess so. If we win this year, I'll let you hold the trophy first."

"Deal," Lily replied, returning to studying and turning her thoughts away from James Potter.

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Around one in the morning, Sirius gave up on sleep. He's been tossing and turning thinking about Gari, so finally he got up. When he went down into the common room, he jumped a little when he saw Gari there too, sitting on the couch in front of the fire.

"Can't sleep?" Sirius asked her. She also gave a little jump at the sound of his voice and turned to see him.

"Yeah, I was…thinking," Gari replied, turning away again and looking at the fire.

"Same here," Sirius said, moving to join her on the couch. They sat in silence for a few moments, before Gari spoke.

"Sirius…about last week," Gari began. "I…" She didn't even know what to say.

"You want to know what I thought about it," Sirius filled in, more as a statement than a question. When she nodded, he continued, "Well, if you walking in on me earns me a kiss like that, then I should go around half naked more often."

"Sirius," Gari looked at him, not exactly annoyed, just seriously.

"I know," Sirius sobered. "Just, look at us the past week. We've been great together."

"Yeah, except my friends interrogate me at every turn," Gari argued.

"Does it bother you?" Sirius asked quietly, looking at her directly.

"What?"

"If people talk," Sirius elaborated. "I mean, let's be honest. It's me."

Gari thought for a moment. "No, I suppose not. I won't like it if Lily and Rayven don't approve, but still…you mean a lot to me."

Sirius smiled as they fell into peaceful silence again. The firelight cast her skin in an amber glow, and her mussed curls shined.

The kiss was there for the taking.

He leaned forward without hesitation and grazed his lips across hers. For an instant, Sirius inhaled the scent of vanilla and tasted strawberries. This kiss was so different from their first. Before, their kiss had been charged with a desperate intensity; this one was easier and more familiar, as though they had been doing this for years. When they broke apart, Gari smiled at him.

"Goodnight, Sirius," Gari murmured, and she headed off to the girls' dormitories again.

Sirius smiled as he leaned back on the couch. His eyes started to close when all of a sudden he sat right up again.

"Oh, shit," He cursed under his breath.

He had completely forgotten about Lynn Carrol.

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Heehee…