Dorcas Meadowes was not an idiot. She knew exactly what would have happened if she and Sirius had just continued down the road they had been on before. They would have continued their cathartic shagging and eventually, she would have fallen for him; diluting herself enough to believe that it was Sirius and not the physical pleasure that let her release the emotions she bottled inside of her. Then, of course, when he shagged some other girl (which she knew would happen sooner or later), he would have broken her heart. If she had suggested an actual relationship, she knew Sirius would have bolted; convinced that she was just another one of his many groupies. Besides, Dorcas didn't want a relationship herself. They were complicated and messy and always ended badly. Look at what had happened with Cade. Dorcas was not about to walk into that again. By defining exactly what their relationship would be, she was protecting herself. She would be able to remain detached.

So when Sirius and James arrived back at the Griffindor common room after two weeks of vacation, she was able to confidently smile at both of them, walk over, and calmly ask how their holiday had been.

"Absolutely spiffing," James said; waiting to see how Sirius would react to Dorcas.

"Good," he smiled at her. "How was yours?" Sirius asked, still smiling at her.

"Very nice, thank you," she said, somewhat guardedly. "I saw my brother, Milton, and his new wife, Urania. They were married over Christmas."

James and Sirius glanced at each other; both trying to hide their burgeoning laughter.

"Are you surprised," she wore her half-smile. "My name is Dorcas, isn't it?"

Sirius broke first; a bark of laughter resonating against the common room walls. Soon James had joined him. Dorcas crossed her arms and rolled her eyes; waiting for the boys to get over it.

"Your sister-in-law's name is really Urania­?" Sirius managed to get out.

"Yes," she said in a blasé tone. "Serious."

James grinned at Dorcas and then slapped a defeated-looking Sirius on the back. She wore a smug expression as she mentioned that she had promised to meet Lily in the Great Hall.

"So…" James said after she had left.

"So what?" Sirius looked unconcerned.

"So, she's funny," James smiled.

"Not that funny."

Within their first two weeks back, three more attacks took place. Each time Sirius and Dorcas came to each other and each time they separated as fast as they had connected; welcoming the deep sleep that always followed. Most of the 6th year Gryffindors had figured out what was going on; at least that Dorcas Meadowes and Sirius Black were now shagging on a regular basis. When Annabelle returned for the first time after Easter holidays, she had loudly complained to Gwen about the fact that she and Owen had walked in on the couple one night. Right in front of Dorcas. Dorcas, of course, had always been impervious to their opinions, and would continue to be. Lily's opinion, however, had some impact.

"I think what you're doing is horribly dangerous, Dorcas." She had whispered to her one day in Potions. "You're playing with fire."

"Hardly," she had said, calmly sliding a frog's leg into her cauldron.

"What happens when Sirius gets tired of you?" Lily asked. "You know he will."

"What's to say I won't get tired of him?"

"Dorcas…"

"Lily," she said firmly, but without emotion. "I'll be fine."

"I just don't want you to get your heart broken."

"Nothing is happening between Sirius and me other than the physical act of sex," she said scientifically. "My heart isn't even involved."

"I don't believe a word of that." Lily poured freshly pressed pomegranate juice into her deep purple concoction and it immediately turned blood red. "No matter what you say, you're invested in this."

Dorcas shrugged slightly and stirred her potion.

Lily sighed and did the same.

The week after the return to Hogwarts was the Quidditch final between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. James had been increasingly nervous as the week had progressed; zoning in and out of classes even more than usual. The night before the match, he was sitting in the Common Room, pouring over a notebook packed with Quidditch plays when Lily Evans had descended the girls' staircase. She was dressed in her muggle clothes: denim bell-bottoms and a lilac tee-shirt. The color was amazing in that it brought out the color in both her hair and her eyes. She seemed to James to float down the stairs; like some heavenly being sent down just for him.

He swallowed hard as she reached the bottom of the stairs, walked to the table he was sitting at and sat down across from him. He tried hard not to think about what she would look like if that purple thing was on the floor instead. She smiled at him and he ran a hand through his hair.

"Evans," he nodded; trying to go back to his Quidditch notes.

"Hi James," she said softly. "I just wanted to wish you good luck with the final tommorow. I'll be watching, you know."

James felt a little queasy as he looked up at her and smiled. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she stood and began to walk back to the stairs.

Watching her saunter back and forth, James' tongue poked the inside of his mouth. He had to ask her out again.

"Lily," he called. "Wait."

"Wi…" he started. But as he looked at Lily's open face, he remembered the last beating he had taken from her that night in the Astronomy Tower. He didn't want to see that anger directed at him again. "Will you ask Annabelle to come down? I need to talk to her about a play."

Lily nodded after a short hesitation. "Alright," she said quietly and turning back to the stairs.

James groaned and put his head down on the table.

"GRIFFINDOR ROCKS!" Sirius and Remus had rigged the tapestry on the wall of the Griffindor common room to flash the message in red and gold letters.

The Quidditch final had been awfully close. James had breathed a sigh of relief when Madam Hooch hadn't seen Evelyn's violent elbow to Catherine Summers' side right before she dove for the snitch. The party had begun immediately after the match; Peter appearing with food nicked from the kitchen and Sirius pulling a couple of bottles of firewhiskey from somewhere.

"You do know what will happen if we get caught with that," Lily shook her head at him. "You're already in serious danger of being expelled, you know."

"Oh relax Evans," Sirius took a rather long swig on the bottle he was holding and winked. "Want a sip?"

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. She was more audibly annoyed when Remus arrived about a half an hour later with an entire case of the stuff.

Most of her attention, however, was focused on James, who was every Gryffindor's favorite that night. Lily was surprised that he actually seemed embarrassed at all of the attention. He wasn't smirking or posing or giving Sirius gratuitous high-fives. He just stood there in a fresh tee-shirt and jeans; a goofy grin on his face as he graciously thanked people who congratulated him. It cemented her new opinion of James and she smiled slightly at him.

His performance during the Quidditch match had brought her surprisingly intense emotions. She had screamed when he almost fell off of his broom dodging a bludger. Dorcas had looked at her from the corner of her eye and smirked a little. Lily had smacked her. Whenever he had gotten the quaffle through one of the hoops, she had jumped up and down in pure excitement and pride. Dorcas had glanced at her again when she had almost fallen over. Lily had told her to shut up.

Dorcas was in the corner; laughing with Remus about something. Sirius was smirking at her from across the room; the alcohol starting to slur his speech. She raised her eyebrows as he approached her, wobbling.

"I was wondering," he was trying to be smooth but he stumbled and fell onto her. She laughed slightly as she pushed him back onto his feet.

She shook her head; smiling slightly. "Not when you're this tossed off."

Remus clicked his tongue. "Sorry mate," he clapped his hand on Sirius' back.

"Just go ask one of your drinking buddies," she suggested somewhat sarcastically; gesturing to the group of girls that had long since joined Sirius and his firewhiskey.

He looked somewhat hurt and pouted drunkenly; his gray eyes squinting. The he nodded unevenly and turned around.

"Takes quite a girl to refuse Sirius Black," Remus laughed.

"Even a drunk one?" she asked.

Lily was sitting at a table with Annabelle and Owen chatting animatedly as James approached her from behind. Her red hair served as a sort of a beacon to him.

"And when you saved that last shot, Owen," she laughed. "I was so excited I nearly knocked Dorcas to the ground."

James cleared his throat loudly. Lily turned around and looked up at him. She smiled broadly. James wasn't sure how to react to acceptance from Lily Evans.

"Hi James," she said.

"Hi," he grunted. "Mind if I join you?"

"No," she shook her head and pointed to the empty chair next to her. "Here."

He fiddled with the chair awkwardly and finally sat down; hyper-aware of the fact that Lily Evans was sitting next to him and not trying to get away.

"Congratulations!" she smiled at him; her green eyes shining. "You were brilliant today."

Suddenly James' collar felt very tight. He would have sworn she had somehow performed a shrinking spell when he was staring at her eyes. "Thanks," he smiled, pulling at his tee-shirt and swallowing. "It was nothing, really. Towler and the Idle here did just as much as I did."

"As I much as I would like to take that compliment," Owen laughed. "We all know that Potter here is the reason we won. He was the one who came up with that dive Sloper used to get to the snitch."

James looked at his shoes, then up at Lily. He mirrored her open smile

"It was a great dive," she said, her lips remaining open at the end of the phrase.

"Well," Annabelle looked the eye contact between James and Lily and stood; grabbing Owen by the arm. "We're going to leave the two of you alone."

"Wha…?" Owen was confused.

"Come on Owen," she smiled slyly. "Dorcas and Sirius are still downstairs."

Owen popped up quite suddenly and the couple scurried up the boys' staircase.

Lily smiled slightly as she watched the two of them. James just stared at her.

"So," she turned back to face him; a smirk on her face. "What do think they're about to do?"

"What I want to do with you" James wanted to say. Instead he just laughed. "Well I guess they have to seize the opportunity while they can."

"Has Sirius told you about their arrangement?" Lily asked; a rather disgusted look on her face.

He nodded, smiling. "He seems to be enjoying it."

"Well of course he would," Lily's lips turned to a scowl. "Dorcas is an idiot."

It was nice to see Lily scowling at someone else for a change.

"How was your holiday?" he changed the subject. While he didn't mind Lily angry with someone else, James was terrified that soon the anger would be directed at him.

"Oh fine," she said quickly; leaving out the part about how she had thought about him the entire time. "My sister's engaged."

James smiled, eager to keep this positive track going. "That's nice."

She scoffed. "Not quite. He's the biggest tosser in Christendom."

James laughed a little too loudly. "What a thing to say about your future brother," he put a hand to his chest mockingly.

Lily laughed back. James was shocked. Lily Evans had just laughed at something he'd said. And she wasn't making fun of him.