A/N: Oh dear. It's been ages since I wrote anything. Again. Damn university work getting in the way. And jobs too. Never mind. Here's a little something I wrote when I was bored. Not quite sure where the idea came from.
And I don't know why all my stories (except one) have Lily in them either. Oh well, this is no exception. Enjoy.

Can you spot the Dumbledore line in here?

Bloodlines

"Jackson catches the snitch! Ravenclaw wins 230 to 90!"

That was how the critical match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw ended, ending Gryffindor's campaign to win the quidditch cup for the year.

As the Gryffindor team flew dejectedly back towards the ground, it was clear to anyone watching that there was a fair amount of animosity directed at the Ravenclaw team, especially from James Potter and Sirius Black.

Over the next few weeks, the Ravenclaw team, while hailed as heroes by their own house, could hardly walk to their lessons without being subjected to various hexes, curses and pranks.

Although everyone knew perfectly well who was behind it, no-one seemed to want to do anything about it for fear of becoming victims themselves.

This only served to encourage the actions of James and Sirius, resulting in their almost daily rituals of pranking the Ravenclaw team becoming more and more cruel.

Lily Evans, who had watched the actions of the pair over the last few weeks, was beginning to get more and more angry with James and Sirius, for what she deemed to be their unnecessarily cruel behaviour.

On several occasions she had cornered Remus Lupin, who was friends with the pair, and her fellow prefect, and asked him to tell them to stop, but he always mumbled something about having no control over them and left quickly.

After a few unsuccessful attempts at trying to talk to James or Sirius at meal times ("I will if you go out with me, Evans" had been James' only response), she had resigned herself to not doing anything more than keeping an eye on them to make sure things didn't go too far.

However, Ravenclaw's continued success in subsequent quidditch matches only resulted in the hexes and pranks directed at the team to reach an all-time high.

"Hey James, look, he's a quaffle!" Sirius was laughing as he levitated a trembling Ravenclaw chaser through the air.

James laughed, and another chaser flew through the air towards the other.

"Careful, there's a bludger!" he shouted back, as the two chasers collided in mid-air, earning cheers from the crowd watching.

Attracted by the noise, Lily fought her way through the crowd to see what was going on. When she saw the two people in the air, she decided that James and Sirius had gone too far, and that something had to be done.

Throwing a look of disappointment at Remus, who was pointedly ignoring anything that was going on, and disgust at Peter, who was laughing uncontrollably, she stormed through the rest of the crowd to reach James and Sirius.

"POTTER! BLACK! LEAVE THEM ALONE!"

James looked round, and smirked when he saw who it was.

"What's it to you, Evans? I'll leave them alone if you go out with me!"

Lily almost shouted in frustration at this remark. "They're students, just like you, Potter." she remarked coldly, adding emphasis to his surname. "Now leave them alone and perhaps I won't report you to McGonagall this time."

"Lighten up, Evans" Sirius called, aiming a final hex at the chasers who were all but running down the corridor. "It's only a bit of fun."

"Fun for who, Black?" Lily rounded on him. "Just because they beat you at one silly game, you have to curse them at every opportunity."

James and Sirius both looked outraged at her slight on quidditch, but Sirius responded first.

"It's not a silly game," he said evenly. "They dared to beat the best, and therefore we have every right to hex them."

Lily gave him a look of pure disgust before responding. "You are a disgrace to the wizarding world, Black." she said, speaking each word clearly and coldly.

Far from being wounding, this remark caused Sirius to let out a bark-like laugh.

"Do you really think that hurts, Evans?" he replied. "Do you really think I'd be offended by a comment like that from a mudblood like you?"

The entire corridor fell silent, and even Sirius looked shocked at his words.

"Evans, Lily! I didn't mean that!" he shouted at her retreating figure. "I'm so-" but was cut off as she whirled around and aimed a hex at him.

He deflected the hex easily, but he didn't miss the tears in her eyes that she was desperately trying to cover up.

"Why did you have to go and say something like that?" James asked in an accusatory tone. "And get away, all of you" he added to the crowd who were still watching.

"I – I don't know" Sirius said, slowly sliding down the wall to a sitting position, his head in his hands. "I guess I'm just so used to hearing it at home and -"

"What you need to do is explain this to her," Remus cut in patiently, having decided to stop ignoring what was going on. "She's a forgiving person; she'll understand."

Sirius nodded, jumped up and was gone within a matter of seconds.

"Why does he care so much anyway?" James asked in confusion. "It's not like he's actually friends with her."

"I would assume he wants to prove that he's not like his family," Remus said sagely. "And of course he can't have his best friend's future wife mad at him, can he?" he added as an afterthought, laughing as James turned red.

Sirius ran back towards the common room, inwardly cursing himself for saying something so like his family. He'd worked for 5 years to prove that he was nothing like them, only to blow it in an instant.

He hadn't meant for that to slip out; it was being around his cursed pureblood manic parents and their constant talk about how important bloodlines were.

As he ran into the common room, he saw to his relief that Lily was only just making her way up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.

"Evans, wait!" he called out to her, praying that she wouldn't just run up and lock herself in.

"What do you want Black?" she cried hysterically, spinning around at the top of the stairs. "Come to insult me some more? Or do you want to retaliate for that hex?"

"We both know that I don't want to do either of those things." he said evenly, looking directly at her. "All I want is a chance to explain myself and tell you that I'm sorry."

"What, so you can go and laugh about it with your marauding friends?" she countered, anger flaming up in her eyes.

"Look, James is angry at me and Remus is disappointed." Sirius replied, breaking eye contact with her. "It means more to me than that anyway."

"And why should I believe you?" Lily replied coldly, showing the stubbornness she was famous for. "Why should I believe that you're any better than the Slytherins?"

"My whole damn family is, and has been, in Slytherin for centuries." he countered, showing anger for the first time. "All I ask is 5 minutes to explain why I said what – what I said, and then you're free to do whatever you want."

"All right," Lily said, her tone still cold. "But 5 minutes only."

After waiting for around 15 seconds, Sirius realised she was waiting for him to start talking.

"Well at least come and sit down," he said. "I'd rather not shout this to the entire common room."

"I'd rather be as far away as possible from you," Lily replied snidely. "But I suppose it would be civil to sit down somewhere, which is more than can be said for you."

"I know you're angry, and I don't blame you. But at least hear me out." Sirius responded, ignoring her remark.

"Fine, go on then." was all Lily said.

"Let me start by asking you a question – what do you know about the Black family?" Sirius started, after gathering his nerve for a few seconds.

"Pretty much nothing, why?" Lily asked, more out of curiosity.

"Well the Black family has been in Slytherin, and proud of it, for centuries." Sirius said slowly. "We place a very high value on what you might call purity of blood."

"Purebloods in other words," Lily interjected.

"Exactly." Sirius said with a small smile. "Now how can you imagine they reacted when the heard from my dear old cousins Bellatrix and Narcissa that I got put into Gryffindor?"

"Slightly disappointed? I don't know." Lily replied.

Sirius gave a hollow laugh.

"Lily, these are people who sit round the dinner table and discuss how Voldemort has the right idea in ridding the world of anyone who isn't pureblood. See this scar?" he said, pulling back his robes to reveal a faint scar, "that's how they reacted when I refused to transfer to Slytherin. And the howlers of course."

Lily gasped. She really had no idea that the wizarding world could be as prejudiced as the muggle one.

"But what does that have to do with – with what you said?" she asked after a moment.

"Haven't you already got the idea what they're like?" Sirius said. "They hate muggles, muggleborns, and to an extent, half-bloods. Hell, they even hate some of the pureblood families like the Potters and the Weasleys."

"But -" Lily started, still not fully understanding.

"Lily, these people sit round talking about how muggles and muggleborns are scum and should be disposed of as quickly as possible." Sirius said desperately, cutting her off. "I had years and years of them going on about it, and how I should be part of it." he finished disgustedly.

"But that's horrible!" Lily exclaimed. "Hating someone because of their parentage."

"Yeah, you try telling them that." Sirius said sarcastically. "See how they take it."

"But – but how did you not become like them?" Lily asked in amazement, despite herself.

"Ran away in forth year." Sirius said shortly, obviously not wanting to talk about it. "I'd had enough of their pureblood mania. Lived with James ever since."

Lily was temporarily stunned by this new revelation. Partly at Sirius for standing up to his parents, which she could never do, and partly at James for taking Sirius in just like that. There was clearly a lot more to the pair than she'd thought.

"Then what – what are your views on bloodlines?" Lily questioned tentatively, hoping not to anger Sirius again.

There was a moment of silence in which Sirius seemed to be pondering his answer.

"Couldn't care less really." he said finally. "It doesn't matter what someone's born, but what they grow to be."

Lily was really thrown by this; Sirius could be really insightful when he wanted to be.

"I was placed into Gryffindor because I asked to be different from them." he continued after another moment of silence. "Told the hat I didn't want to be anything like them."

Lily just sat there, unable to speak. There clearly was far more to Sirius than met the eye; far more than she selfish egotistical showoff that he portrayed himself as.

"I don't know what to say," Lily said after a moment. "I mean -"

"You don't need to say anything, it's ok." Sirius said, smiling at her for the first time. "I just wanted to get that out so you know there was at least some sort of excuse for what I said, which I'm still sorry for."

"Don't worry about it," Lily said, giving him a hug. "We ll make mistakes, and I forgive you. Just forget about it."

"Really?" Sirius said, with another true smile. "You mean you're not going to be mad at me forever?"

Lily had to laugh at that.

"I don't know where you get ideas like that, Black." she said sarcastically. "Friends?" she added, extending her hand.

"You bet!" Sirius replied, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards him and spinning her around, ignoring the shriek.