I probably won't continue to post at this rate, but at the moment I have the better part of the next three chapters written, which is a definite plus. Not guaranteeing any timeline for them to be out. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy, and don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, his parents, the other characters, the world, or basically anything you see in this story. It was all created by J. K. Rowling.

Chapter Two

It was only so long that a bloke could watch his best mate prance around the room, making a complete and total idiot out of himself because he mistakenly believed that his longtime crush had actually consented to go out on a date with him before said bloke had to intervene and crush said best mate's spirits.

For Sirius Black, that time was sixty-four seconds, which included the thirty-seven seconds it took for him to determine the situation, laugh, scoff, ask Prongs again, demand to see the letter in question, laugh and scoff again, then realize just what exactly was going on. The next two hours were spent trying to convince James thatwhat he thoughtwas going on really wasn't.

"Prongs, it's all a cruel joke," Sirius said.

"It isn't," James insisted. "Evans wouldn't do that to me. She likes me."

"She hates your guts." He paused here, to reconsider. "Although, come to think of it, I'm not sure that's entirely true. I think she quite likes your guts, or at least would quite like them if they were spilled outside your body. As they are, nicely packaged up inside your body, she's not entirely fond of them."

James shook his head stubbornly, refusing to listen to Sirius' sound advice. "You're just jealous."

"What?" Sirius yelped. "Me? Jealous? Of Evans? You're crazier than I thought. I can't stand Evans."

"Why not?" James challenged. In the face of the perceived insult, he forgot for the moment that he wasn't supposed to be encouraging Sirius to like his crush. "What's wrong with her?"

"What isn't wrong with her?" Sirius asked. It was dangerous grounds, but he never played safe. Playing safe went against everything that made him a Gryffindor or a Black. "She's the most annoying creature I've ever laid eyes on. And you've met my family, so you know that's saying a lot.

James pulled his wand. "Take that back," he said slowly and deliberately. He wasn't fooling around.

Sirius just rolled his eyes, his own wand resting lazily at his side. "Relax, Prongs. She's not worth getting worked up over."

"She is," James insisted. His wand didn't drop, although he grip relaxed when Sirius didn't respond.

"She's playing with your feelings!" Sirius waved the letter in James' face for proof, but it wasn't as an effective a reminder as he'd hoped.

"She said she'd go out with me." James' eye glazed over again at the memory.

"She was lying!"

"Evans wouldn't do that," James defended.

"I have news for you, mate. She just did."

James adopted a slightly condescending smile that irked Sirius almost more than the fact that Evans was playing with James' heart did. "Padfoot, how many girlfriends have you had?" he asked.

Sirius shrugged. "I lost count ages ago. You know that."

"Snogging a girl doesn't make her your girlfriend," James said.

Sirius shrugged again. "In that case," he paused and started to counted on his fingers, although they both knew it was just for the act. He gave up quickly, pasting on a wide, lazy smile. "I still haven't the slightest clue."

"You've never even gone out with a girl for more than one date. Why do you think you know anything about matters of the heart?"

James' words were accurate enough, even if not completely true. However, Sirius wasn't going to correct himJames. If he were going to mention her, he would have told James ages ago. He wasn't going to break his vow of silence now. Not over something that he wasn't sure he even knew the point of.

Sirius quickly pushed those thoughts out of his mind. He was talking about James' love life (or lack thereof) here, not his own love life (or lack thereof). He needed to focus on James' problem.

"I know enough to know when Evans is jerking you around," he said. "I know enough to know when a girl isn't interested. I know enough to know she's just going to hurt you."

James dismissed this warning, as he always dismissed the warning. Lily Evans could do no wrong in his eyes. Sirius and the others had tried to wean James off of that mystifying notion, but so far they had not been successful. Sometimes it didn't matter too much (except, of course, to their sanity, which was greatly threatened when James wouldn't shut up about how Evans could perform miracles with her wand, exchanging water for wine without as much as a blink of the eye) but other times it could be fatal (such as when Evans had mentioned to James that she really did miss listening to her Muggle tunes on the wireless when at Hogwarts, causing James to fiddle around with an old radio he found on their summer holidays, almost electrifying both himself and Sirius in his attempts to modify it).

"You're just saying that because you don't think I should go out with her."

"I'm just saying that because it's true," Sirius corrected. "And you shouldn't go out with her."

"Too bad; I am." James resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at Sirius to finish the comment, but only barely. The tip of his tongue passed beyond his lips before he remembered that he was very grown up and mature, and that mature grown-ups did not do such things as stick out their tongues at their mates, even if their mates greatly deserved such treatment.

Sirius sighed, long and dramatically. He wondered what it would take to drill the point into James' head. He wondered if there was anything that could do so. "You aren't," he said simply.

James shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Padfoot," he started to say.

"Feel what way?" Sirius interrupted what he knew would have been a long speech otherwise.

"Upset," James said simply.

Sirius didn't deny that he was upset, but he knew it wasn't for the reasons James thought. "I'll stop being upset when you admit to the truth."

"The truth is that Evans agreed to go out with me."

"The truth is that Evans is not going out with you."

"She said so herself!" James argued, refusing to budge from his self-delusion.

"What would it take for you to believe me?" Sirius asked, frustrated that the argument was still going on. It wasn't like James to be this stubborn. At least not against Sirius.

"There isn't anything that would convince me you're right about her, because you aren't. Evans isn't like that."

"Why don't you go ask her?" Sirius suggested in desperation.

"Fine. I will." With a decide flounce, James turned on his heel and headed for Gryffindor Tower, hollering Evans' name the entire way.

In the next chapter:

"She loves me, she loves me not. She loves me, she loves me not." James carefully plucked petals from the flower he'd stolen from Greenhouse Five. However, when he landed on "She loved me as much as she loves a Green Martian named Marvin," all he could do was yell out "PADFOOT!"

Sirius just laughed.