Chapter Five: Romances of a Stag and a Dog

(James' POV)

"Whoa, whoa, pause and rewind!" Sirius exclaimed, mouth full of food. He was spraying it everywhere, much to the disgust of Remus and James. "You almost kissed her? And she almost let you?"

James nodded, a wearied sigh. "Yep. And then my damned owl had to ruin the moment."

Sirius shook his head. "Typical birds. That's why dogs are so much better," he laughed, his eyes twinkling.

"You know," Remus said, "I'm a bit more partial to wolves myself." He grinned.

"Dogs?" James snorted, momentarily forgetting his green-eyed goddess. "Wolves? Please, what rubbish. It's the stags that are superior."

"Nah," Peter piped up, momentarily pausing from his feasting to reply, "it's the rats that rule the world. There are so many of them."

And so they continued their friendly banter until it was time to go to classes. "What's first on the agenda Moony?" Sirius asked nonchalantly. It never ceased to amaze James and Remus that Sirius generally never knew what class he had next. But then again, did he ever have to? The three of them had all of their classes together, so he left Remus and James to memorizing their schedule. They only had a few with Peter, who wasn't in advanced classes.

"Charms with the Ravenclaws," he answered. "Nothing we can't handle."

"Ah, charms," Sirius bowed his head solemnly. "Isn't that Queen Lily's favorite class?"

"Yes," James sighed dreamily. "And unfortunately, my worst. I always make an ass of myself in that class."

"The bright side of it Prongs," Remus put in, "is that she 'makes an ass of herself' in transfiguration, which happens to be your best subject."

"Lily never makes an ass of herself!" James exclaimed, coming to his fair lady's rescue. "She just doesn't have as high of marks as I do."

"No one does James," Sirius remarked. "You're the best in our house, not to mention our year, which means you're the best student in the school."

Remus sighed. "Don't boost his ego Padfoot," he warned, "not after we spent the summer trying to deflate so he would be able to win the heart of —"

"Tiger Lily!" James seemed to finish Remus' sentence for him as he ran ahead to greet his princess.

Both boys shook their heads at the hopelessness of the situation… or was it?

Instead of scowling or glaring, Lily actually stopped and waited for him.

The boys felt their jaws drop. "Hey Tiger Lily," they heard him say.

They saw her roll her eyes. "Hey James," she replied, not unkindly.

"Ready for charms?"

"Yep," she answered with a slight smile. But then it vanished. "But I have transfiguration right after." She made a face. "I'm bloody awful at that class."

"We're in the same class, if you remember," James said, a tad nervously, "I could partner up with you if you wanted and I could help you… maybe?"

"Sure," she smiled. "I'd like that. You always were rather good at transfiguration, weren't you?"

Did she just compliment him? Sirius mouthed to Remus.

Remus nodded.

The two boys watched in silence as the two walked off to the charms room compatibly until they were out of sight…

"It's a blimey miracle," Sirius said, finally finding his voice.

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If James had known becoming friends with Lily would have such results, he would have done it ages ago. She was being civil to him… friendly, even.

In charms he had approached her, almost shyly, asking if she could help him with the pronunciation of a spell. She looked a bit surprised, answering when Alice gave her a little push. "Sure."

"It's easy," she told him. "Look, you know how you're always imitating Flitwick?"

"I'm not always," James protested.

"Fine, then," Lily said, a bit exasperated, "well, nevertheless, you have imitated him before, right?"

"Yes," James said slowly "…So?"

"So?" Lily said. "Just imitate him saying the spell. It should work for you if you do it well enough."

James tried it, sounding like Flitwick almost perfectly. Lily giggled, and then a smug smile flittered across her face as she saw that it had worked.

"You're a bloody genius," he said in awe.

Lily mimicked the trademark "James Potter" grin and imitated him faultlessly, saying airily, "Well, I try."

He laughed—a big, booming laugh that caused Professor Flitwick to squeak, "Something amusing, Mr. Potter?"

James grinned. "Ms. Evans here does a perfect imitation of you professor, you should see it."

Lily flushed. "I do not! You're the one that imitates him!"

Professor Flitwick interrupted. "I don't care who does. Five points from Gryffindor for the disruption. Although," he smiled, "I would like to see whose imitation is better." He scurried away, leaving both Lily and James grinning.

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(Lily's POV)

"I heard you were being civil to James," Estella raised an eyebrow accusingly as she and Selene Lily walked down the halls. Alice was somewhere with Frank, Lily thought, a tad enviously.

"So?" Lily shrugged. "We made a truce. We're sticking to that truce."

"Perhaps civil was the wrong word," Selene said. "I think 'friendly' is more suitable."

"Yes," agreed Estella. "You were being friendly with him. Helping him with charms."

"It was only fair," Lily defended, "he helped me with transfiguration after all."

"You didn't have to agree to it."

"That would've been rude."

"Since when have you been concerned about being rude to James?"

"Since we made a truce, of course," Lily finished smugly, knowing Estella was beat.

In response, Estella threw up her hands exasperatedly.

"Besides," Lily said slyly, "that's nothing compared to what's happening between you and Sirius. Word is that he's been eyeing you."

Estella sniffed. "He may be good-looking and charming like your James (she got a protest from Lily,) but he's a player. I don't date players. He will always be a flirt, and I will never trust him. And you definitely need trust in a relationship."

"Perhaps he's willing to change," Lily said softly. "I think James changed."

Estella's eyes flashed. "How can you be so sure?"

Lily sighed. "I don't know," she said, and she didn't.

"The thing is Estella," Selene put in, "you'll never know unless you try."

"How would you know?" Estella was almost tearful now—it was apparent she was torn. "You've never dated anyone at Hogwarts."

"That's true," said the beautiful girl, "but that's because all they see is a beautiful veela and nothing more. It is nothing more than lust. I want someone to like me for more than that."

"How will you know?" Lily asked curiously.

"My mother taught my occulmency," she said. "It helped her when she was dating my father."

Lily found that extremely sensible. "I wish I knew occulmency," she remarked. "It would certainly help me when it comes to James."

It's always James, she thought, almost bitterly, all my problems always come down to James.

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(POV of no one)

The days went by rather quickly and soon it was October. There were to be three balls that year: the Halloween ball, the Christmas Ball, and the Spring ball.

The Halloween ball—a costume/masquerade—was rapidly approaching. Lily was wondering what she should wear.

"I'm going to be a cat," Estella purred. "A black cat."

"A black cat with the name of White," Lily laughed as they sat down at the table in the Great Hall. "Interesting."

"What will you be Selene?" Alice asked.

"A gypsy I think," she said, "they are a bit like veelas, according to muggle tales."

"Kind of," Lily mused. "What about you, Alice?"

"Not sure yet," Alice said. "A princess most likely."

"And Frank will be your prince!" A new voice entered the conversation.

"'Lo Sirius," Lily said, a bit suspiciously. James used to be a lot like Sirius—still was, but a more tamed version. Lily supposed that if she called a truce on James, she called one on Sirius as well.

"Lily," he said pleasantly. "Selene, Alice," he nodded. "'Stella," he winked at Estella.

Instead of blushing, like the other girls, Estella rolled her eyes. "Black," she said.

Sirius looked a bit surprised, but amused as well. He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Where's your twin?" Lily remarked.

"Prongs is off with Remus," Sirius waved a hand nonchalantly. "Said something about an astronomy test he forgot to study for."

"James studying?" Selene grinned. "Who knew? And I suppose you got all your studying done last night?" She teased.

"Oh yes," Sirius said solemnly. "Was up till half past eleven." He yawned.

Lily was dumbstruck. "You're not serious, are you?"

"Dead," he replied, stretching. "Go ahead. Quiz me on anything."

Estella finally spoke up, firing question after question. He answered them all correctly, although some he had to think about.

"Bravo Sirius," Lily said, grinning. "You deserve a reward."

"A kiss?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"Better not," warned Alice, "won't James be jealous?"

Sirius grinned. "Ah, jealousy may be good for him. After all, he's never experienced it."

Lily laughed. "And we wouldn't want to deprive him."

"Besides," Sirius said, shrugging, "it's not that big of a deal. And he's not here. Who's gonna tell him?"

No one said a word.

"Pucker up, Lils," Sirius said, grinning.

"You're not serious, are you?" Lily said, a bit shocked.

"Of course I'm Sirius!" He said dramatically. "I'm Sirius Black!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant."

But she leaned in anyway, and kissed… his cheek.

"What?" Sirius wailed, when she pulled back. "What a rip-off!"

"I've got to go," Lily said, standing, "and I'm awfully sorry, Sirius. Although you should ask Estella to kiss you, she wouldn't back out of it. She's not coward like I am."

"What a Gryffindor you are," Selene laughed.

"Aye," Lily replied, grinning as well as she left.

"So what about it, 'Stella?" Sirius turned to her. "Kiss me?"

Estella rolled her eyes. "Only in your dreams, Black," she shook her head. "Only in your dreams."

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Author's Note: This chapter was dedicated to just the friendships of Lily and James, because I thought they were getting a bit neglected.

And don't fret, there is some depth to this plot and mentions of Voldemort and such will be addressed.

Remus, as some of you might have noted, is much more laid-back than he is in other fanfics. I remember re-reading Snape's Worst Memory in the fifth book and Remus seemed a lot like Sirius and James. (Go on, re-read it, I'm not joking.) It kind of made me sad, though, comparing him to modern-time in the books.

I like Remus, even though some people don't. He's not so different from James and Sirius than most people think. Most authors, in my opinion, tend to exaggerate his serious side.

As you can see, Estella and Sirius are going to be a couple (I made it so they would be White and Black… ha, ha, get it? It's their last names!) Estella is very similar to Lily, although her dislike for Sirius will get stronger throughout seventh year, and Lily's dislike for James will slowly diminish (although I think I'm speeding things… does it feel like that to you?)

Anywho, I will give acknowledge my reviewers next chapter… I'm too tired now and I've got school tomorrow (it's Sunday…10:22 PM) I'd like for everyone to review and get me to 25 reviews… is that too much to ask?

Well, I guess I'll have to see. Sorry the notes are so long, I just had a lot to say. Sorry!

Anyway, thanks for reading!

P.S. This song was inspired by the song "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer.