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Chapter Fourteen – Poor, poor Sirius

"Well, Padfoot, we got through it," James said, falling onto his favourite squashy armchair underneath the stairs. "We got through a school day with the worst hangover we've braved yet. And we didn't get any detentions."

"Only because we were too exhausted to cause any trouble," Sirius said, settling in the settee next to James' chair. "I feel quite ashamed. Maybe this should be our week off."

"Yeah, then we can do some proper good stuff next week," James agreed, rubbing his hands together gleefully in anticipation.

Peter and Adriana sat down together opposite the two friends. Sirius looked over in surprise, taking in their entwined hands. "What's going on here, then?" he asked. "You two a couple?"

"Yep," Peter answered happily, and turned to Adriana for a kiss. James and Sirius averted their gaze. Sirius, feeling only a slight twinge of jealousy, wondered how much love there was between the couple, then reprimanded himself for doubting his friend like that.

The portrait hole opened and Lily and Bethan came in, laughing about something. They made to go up the stairs, but James called them over.

"Lily, did you like the party?" he asked when they came over to the group.

"Oh, James, I loved it, thank you so much," she answered, a happy smile on her face.

"Good, I didn't almost die for nothing, then," Sirius muttered. Bethan laughed at the memory of him 'almost dead'.

"I thought Remus must have done most of the organisation, but when I asked him he said it was all you," Lily continued to James. "So well done there. And it was very thoughtful of you to arrange a party for me; it's made me rethink my opinions slightly."

James' face broke into a happy, proud grin at these words; his plan seemed to be working – she like him!

"But I still don't want to go out with you," Lily finished, wiping the smile from his face. "I'm sorry," she said. "Bethan, are you coming upstairs?"

"Yeah – night-night, boys," Bethan said, ruffling Sirius' hair. They all bid each other good night, and James watched Lily go, one hand clutched over his heart.

"James, darling!" Sirius cried in his most camp voice, unable to let this opportunity for teasing his friend go. "Your face is such a picture of misery, I may cry!"

"He's a complete moody tosser, you mean," Peter added, taking his eyes of Adriana and trying to join in.

"Shut up, Wormtail," James snapped, and went up the stairs to bed.

Sirius turned to Peter desperately. "You always have to take it too far, don't you?"

December quickly arrived, and with it cold winds, lots of homework, excited, Christmassy expectation and eventually snow. The snow swirled about over the school grounds all through the day and night; sometimes thick, huge flakes fell and other times it was barely visible in the air, but it collected on the ground, the drifts deepening by inches every day.

Inside the school, there was one week left before the end of term, and the teachers had kindly taken it upon themselves to smother their poor exhausted students with holiday homework. The Marauders were getting on well; in the two weeks since Lily's party they had thought up and performed a record number of pranks on Snape and his slimy friends. These included turning his whole body, including clothes and hair, green (they had played with the idea of turning him red to annoy him, but in the end thought this would be too disrespectful to Gryffindor); stripping him to his underwear, with use of wands, in the middle of a corridor on a number of occasions; causing his Truth Potion to bubble over and spill all over him in the lesson, so he had no choice but to be absolutely truthful for a while; and, their personal favourite, performing Wingardium Leviosa on him early one morning so that he floated up to the ceiling of the Great Hall and remained there for a whole day without being found.

James had not gotten any further in his plan with Lily; although he had managed to be a lot less arrogant lately, the endless cruelty, in her eyes, to Snape did not do him any favours. She was particularly dismayed when the greasy Slytherin ended up nearly naked in front of a big crowd of students, for the third time that week, by cause of James.

"Don't you ever get tired of causing discomfort to those less fortunate than you?" she demanded of James in the common room that evening.

"Well, to be fair, seeing Snape in his undies is a cause for discomfort for everyone concerned, Lily," James told her, his face serious. "In fact, I'd say everyone else was worse off than him in that situation."

"Then why do you do it?" Lily asked, really wanting an answer.

James shrugged, no remorse on his face. "It's just a bit of harmless fun," he said.

"Well, so is this!" Lily emptied the nearly full goblet of pumpkin juice she had been drinking from onto his head, and stood with her hands on her hips.

"Score," Remus muttered, glancing up from reading a Charms textbook to relish the sight of his friend covered in sticky orange liquid. Lily slumped down next to him, glaring, and folded her arms.

"He deserved that," she snapped to Remus, obviously expecting him to stick up for James.

"You don't have to tell me."

Sirius came hurtling down the stairs and leapt deftly over the banister to land cat-like on the floor. "James, are we – heh heh heh..."

He'd meant to ask James about Quidditch practice, but couldn't help but laugh upon seeing his friend there, still standing in the same position, the juice dripping from his face.

No sympathy showed on Sirius' laughing face as he commented, "Snivellus had his dignity taken one too many times, eh?"

Lily gave an angry 'humph' in reply, as the portrait hole opened and Bethan and Sarah entered, both looking impossibly excited. They rushed over to where the others were sitting in their usual place, and were practically jumping up and down; they couldn't get any words out. Sirius, who grew impatient easily, swept Bethan off her feet and swung her round, asking, "What? What do you want to say?" right into her face.

Sarah stopped laughing giddily long enough to point at Bethan and say, "Guess who just asked her out?"

Sirius stopped in mid-swing and set a grinning Bethan down again. James continued vanishing the pumpkin juice with his wand, though he was listening interestedly. Remus calmly looked over the top of his book, and Lily looked up from glowering about James, her eyes wide as she asked, "Ooh, who?"

Sarah looked at Bethan, who said, "You tell them."

The blonde girl didn't need telling twice. "Marley Branson!" she cried, and Lily gasped in excitement.

"Who?" James asked, his face now clean.

"Marley Branson!" repeated Sarah. "The impossibly fit seventh year from Ravenclaw – he's a Beater on their Quidditch team.

As realisation hit him, Sirius whipped a hand to his mouth, horrified. "The one who practically knocked a hole in my stomach with a Bludger?" he asked, taking a step back from Bethan.

"Yes!" she answered excitedly, ignoring the boys' less than enthusiastic response and pulling the two girls up to their dormitory to discuss Branson and the afternoon's event.

"So, what did you say?" Lily asked happily.

"Yes, of course!" Bethan answered, sounding shocked by such a nonsensical question.

Sirius slumped down next to Remus, his bright mood vanished. Suddenly he realised his feelings for Bethan, too late. His stomach plummeted a few feet more when he thought about the moody, intimidating Beater being with her, holding her in his huge, muscular arms.

James sat opposite him. "What's up, Padfoot?" he asked in surprise. "You fancy Bethan?"

Sirius nodded in a daze. "So it would seem. But I only just realised it."

"Damn." James showed more sympathy than Sirius had to him earlier. "How do you feel now?"

"A sucking wound where once there was a heart," Sirius announced theatrically, holding both hands over his chest.

"Well, you know," Remus began wisely, and Sirius turned to him, obviously expecting comfort from the wise Moony, "at the end of the day, it's the luck of the draw."

"You win some, you lose some," James added, quickly clocking on.

"Yar," Remus agreed solemnly.

Sirius glared at them angrily. Then: "Oh, just bugger off."

Later that evening, James and Remus were playing chess while Sirius got on with some homework for a change. Lily came down the stairs and straight for their table.

"Remus?" she asked. They all looked up. Remus looked expectant.

"It's Tuesday," she clarified.

Remus looked blank. "Oh, right, Prefect duty," he said after a second. "See you later, guys," he saluted the others farewell and left through the portrait hole with Lily.

James stared after him jealously. "He's so lucky," he whined. "He gets to spend a whole evening once a week, alone with her."

"That's life," Sirius muttered, without looking up from his Potions essay. He was still sore about Bethan.