Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, events and/or places that are recognized as being written and created by J.K. Rowling. J.K. Rowling owns all the characters and places from the Harry Potter books including the ones used in this story.A/

A/N: Hello! I'm so sorry that this chapter took a bit longer than usual. I'm entering some writing competitions and I've been working on those short stories every free moment I had. But, no matter what I can't seem to not want to write this...fanfiction is an addictive drug, I'm sure of it!

Anyways, THANK YOU TIMES INFINITY TO: elsie777, slayer faith2, Captain Oz ("bless their cotton sockes" never gets old!), zippyfox, kathaania, intentional untruth, StarCat13, hottiegrl, ginnythesilly (wouldn't it be funny if JK did write fanfics for her own story? lol), Slashykitty, ForeverRain, Tanya J Potter, missprongs07, Dork, tahwekilelohcin, Callista Wolfwood, marauders4, HealerAriel, and starfireandrobin4evah! You guys make my everyday! Also, big thanks to those that just read...I always have to mention that.

Ok, future reference: feel free to ignore this entire babbling beginning and go straight to the story...Enjoy:D

Peter bit his bottom lip. The thin skin was pierced by his sharp teeth, and he was certain that he would be sporting an attractive lump of blood for the rest of the day. Biting his lip, holding his breath, closing his eyes seemed the only things he could do to stop himself from falling out of his seat laughing. Laughing and pointing at his two friends. Because, honestly, he could hardly remember a situation funnier than the one they were in now.

"Just let it out, Wormtail," Sirius growled. "You're turning blue."

"I'm sorry," Peter laughed. "Really. Just. Sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Sirius asked with a heavy coat of bitterness. "You're not the one who lied to us. For a girl." Sirius scrunched his nose up, like simply saying a word that in a round about way described Lily Evans made him sick.

"What, Padfoot?" Peter regained himself for a moment. Just enough time to make his comment. Sirius looked at him, his face frozen in pure disgust. "Something wrong with girls?"

"Look at him," Sirius exclaimed. "For once he's not the butt of the joke and all of a sudden he's…he's…who's someone really funny, Moony?"

"Did you see the way she was looking at me?" Remus turned to look at Sirius. Sirius shook his head. "Like she wanted me to be her best friend now. Bringing me presents! Like she wants me to sit over tea with her and discuss our boyfriends!"

"Like you'd have anything bad to discuss," Sirius added with a smug smile.

"Not the point," Remus hissed, through clenched teeth.

"I, actually…" Peter stopped. He bit his lip again, and looked at the empty seat that James would have been sitting in. He wasn't sure if he should express his thoughts. Then again, nothings stopped him in the past. "I actually thought that she liked you, Moony. She looked jealous. Of Padfoot."

"Ooh," Sirius smiled. "Well, isn't that the dog's business suit!"

"What?"

"He means cat's pajamas," Remus explained, offhandedly to Peter. "And I'm not sure if I agree with you, Wormtail."

"Why is he excited?" Peter asked, staring at Sirius with panicked eyes. Sirius was drumming his fingers together. He looked like a man with an idea, which was never a good thing; especially coming from Sirius.

Remus sighed. "What do you got boy?" he asked, patting his knees.

Sirius dropped his devious smile, to narrow his eyes at Remus. Then he brightened. "Moony, don't you see how great it is if Evans's blood boils for you?"

"No."

"Moony," Sirius exclaimed. "You can go out with Lily! And then all our problems will be solved!"

"Solved?" Remus shouted. He coughed, to regain his composure, which seemed to slip away from him whenever he was in the presence of Sirius Black and one of his half-grown schemes. "How would that solve anything?" The only thing it would accomplish is causing four lives to be plunged into misery! James will hate me. I'll hate myself. Lily will regret her choice. And you, mate, will be left, alone…with Wormtail."

Sirius looked at Peter, who was clearly wearing an expression of deep shock, hurt and anger. Sirius clenched onto Remus's arm, and buried his nose in the crook of Remus's neck. "Please, don't leave me," Sirius whined. Remus laughed and tried without much effort to dislodge Sirius.

"You know," Peter spoke up, his voice rising to tones worthy of an operatic soprano. His two beady eyes were fixed on Sirius and Remus, or was it Remus and Sirius. He couldn't really tell, since they were practically smushed into one being. "You know, maybe if you two were a little nicer to me, and acted a little more normal…then I could have made this all go away for you."

"How's that?" Sirius questioned, moving away from Remus.

"Because I've known since the beginning of summer what Lily thought, and that James wasn't putting a stop to it," Peter shouted.

"Well, why didn't you say anything?" Sirius shouted back.

"Why? Why?" Peter stopped to catch his escaping breath. "Maybe if you two didn't go down the hallways standing so close not even an ant would be able to squeeze between. Maybe if you didn't fall asleep in a huddle on the common room couch. Maybe if you didn't have secret jokes that no one else seems to understand. Then, maybe, it would have been easier for me to not believe Lily." Peter had secretly been waiting since last January to use Remus's and Sirius's "slumber party" in some sort of argument. Remus was sick after the full moon, and Sirius was showing him how a real nurse would take care of him. No matter how, or who, looked at that situation it was clearly set up for misunderstandings.

Sirius folded his arms across his chest. "What are you trying to say, Wormtail?"

"That Lily might be right!"

Sirius gasped. "How dare you side with that nosy, frizzy haired, witch!"

"Wormtail," Remus said, his voice some what lower than usual. It was the voice Remus used to have back when they were only house mates, when Remus was sill extremely shy. "We don't mean to ignore you." Remus elbowed Sirius before he had a chance to contradict Remus's niceness. "And," Remus continued, ignoring Sirius's pleading eyes. "If Padfoot and I were…together…then, we would tell you."

Peter nodded and smiled. Though, somewhere, lost in the basement of his mind, he wasn't sure if that was true.

Remus smiled back at Peter. "Awe," Sirius commented. "Are we all friends again?" Remus laughed, and Sirius pointed his finger at Remus's face. "Now you and I, messr. Moony, are going to decide on the best way to kill Prongs."

"We're not killing anyone," Remus said, grabbing Sirius's finger and pushing it away.

"Why don't you just tell Lily she's wrong?" Peter suggested.

"I don't want to embarrass her," Remus said, with frustration. "Plus, Lily doesn't take being wrong very well."

"You're too nice, Moony." Sirius yawned and stretched back like a cat. "I personally don't care what she thinks. I could've been paired up with someone worse…"

"Somehow, I'm offended by that," Remus said.

"I just wish Prongs would be the Gryffindor he's supposed to be and tell her she's wrong."

"Lily will never speak to him again," Peter spoke up. "Then instead of a love sick Prongs, we'll have this weeping mess of a human being to deal with."

"Oh," Sirius huffed. "He's always weeping about something."

"No, he isn't," Peter objected.

"He was crying last month!"

"You ran over his toe with your bike!"

"It was a mistake!"

"Still, that's no reason to accuse the man of constantly crying!"

"Well-"

"Stop arguing," Remus blurted out. "In all fairness, Padfoot," Remus said gently. "After you ran over his toe, you accidentally poked him in the eye trying to put his glasses back on."

"I'm reckless," Sirius said. It was more of a reminder than an admittance of fault.

"I don't know what to do," Remus sighed, dragging his fingers through his hair.

"Oh, Moony." Sirius moved closer to Remus and pulled him into a hug. "Don't worry." Remus, without thinking, or caring, rested his head against Sirius's.

Peter felt instantly uncomfortable, and he squirmed in his seat. He started to realize that he had never felt comfortable around Sirius and Remus; like he was always miles away from where they were. "It's not that bad, Moony," Peter said, attempting to fit back in.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, pulling away from Remus. "You could have been paired with someone worse."

Remus laughed. "Oh, like anyone else in existence?"

Sirius nodded wisely and winked. "Who are we trying to kid, right?"

"Moony?" Peter was all too eager to not have a James-like conversation about all the great things that is Sirius Black. Remus turned his attention to Peter. "Why are you so bothered by this?"

Remus sighed, and pretended to take interest in the cuff of his jacket. "I'm not that bothered by it," he said. Sirius was fixing Remus with two blazing, blue eyes. They were anxious or curious or ready to fight. Sirius didn't like seeing Remus upset. Making Remus stay happy was something all three of them, Sirius mostly, strove to achieve. "I wouldn't care at all, if it…I don't like people talking about me. I don't like being labeled." Remus frowned. He didn't mean for anyone to notice it. "Werewolf. Dangerous. Half-blood."

Sirius felt particularly enraged by Remus's last comment. It was his family, his former family, that made that a label in the first place. Yes, Remus was a Werewolf, but he wasn't dangerous. Yes, he was a half-blood, but that didn't make him anything less than brilliant. And if Remus was anything, to Sirius, he was brilliant.

Sirius was all ready to let sleeping dragons lie, as the saying goes. Let everyone believe what they wanted to believe about him. If they thought he was dating Remus, so what? He probably would have had fun with that rumor and pranced around with Remus's hand in his, making a big show of it all. He probably would have reeled in some girls who thought he was even hotter because of it. But, Sirius had the luxury, the attitude, to not be bothered by things like that. He was a Black. He inherited a great deal of money, and stood to inherit much more. He was gorgeous and talented and pure blooded. Remus was Remus; and with everything Remus went through, he didn't need Lily Evans on top of that.

"I need to stretch my legs," Sirius jumped out of his seat and stood looking down at his tawny haired friend. "I'm going for a little walk."

"Alright, Padfoot," Remus responded slowly, after a moment of silence. He raised his eyebrows. He knew Sirius was up to something, and he would have stopped him, if he knew that Sirius would have listened.

Sirius left the compartment with the intention of going to find Evans and telling her that she had it wrong, and to next time not jump to conclusions. Sirius loved playing the hero. He was going to gallop in on his white horse and save his Moony. Sirius didn't like Evans anyways; he didn't care about embarrassing her or hurting her feelings. He didn't really want to hurt James's though…

"James! Go stop those second years."

"What second years?"

"Those two boys over there that are threatening to throw that other boy's trunk off the ledge!"

James looked at the second years with a look of fondness. "Oh, let them have their fun," he said. He remembered seeing Snape's trunk break open as it hit the tracks that fateful morning of their second year. "Merlin knows it won't…who am I kidding the pranks never stop!"

Lily narrowed her eyes, but refused to acknowledge that tiny slip up. James has changed, she kept repeating to herself. Lily looked up in time to see Severus Snape coming their way. Oh I hope James has changed! Please make him have changed!

Snape and Lily caught eyes for a second. Lily smiled pleasantly, friendly, and Snape as usual dropped his eyes and scowled. Lily turned her eyes to James, and covered her laughing mouth with her hand.

James was whistling, his head pointed towards the ceiling, and eyes looking everywhere. Everywhere but at Severus Snape. If he even looked at Snape, he was not responsible for what might have happened. So he decided that just keeping his eyes to himself was the best method to avoid a problem.

Snape passed James closely, daring him to hex him in front of Lily. James smelled his greasy presence. Lily will hate you, James said in his head. Lily will know you haven't changed. Haven't changed...She's so thick. James laughed aloud to himself.

"He's gone," Lily whispered, leaning against James's arm.She looked up at him and smiled a smile that reached the tips of her green eyes and made James's insides tie knots around themselves.

"I," James paused to clear his throat. "I have no idea who you're talking about."

Lily laughed, throwing her head back. James was lost for a brief moment as he set himself to counting how many shades of red were in Lily's hair. There had to be a thousand, plus some that didn't seem to ever exist anywhere else and were just apart of Lily's magic.

"I saw you smiling at Snape," James commented.

Lily shrugged. "I try to be nice to him; be his friend. But, he never looks me in the eye."

"He probably likes you," James leered. He wanted to laugh at the possibility of him having to compete against Snivellus for Lily's love. There was an easy battle.

Lily shrugged again. "He probably does."

"Whoa!" James made a big show out of looking shocked. "Lily Evans! Don't you think highly of yourself!"

Lily's mouth fell open and the strain on her cheeks was almost enough to hide her creeping blush. "That's not what I meant," she said. Lily straightened her face up and smiled wickedly. "And isn't being smug your expert talent?"

James leaned in close to Lily. "That was the old James Potter."

"Oh," Lily whispered, giggling despite herself. "And the new James Potter?"

James rubbed his knuckles over his Head Boy badge. He was all ready to make a remark about being responsible now and a good role model when two thoughts rampaged over his mind. The first one reminded him about how boring being responsible and a good role model was and that he might want to reconsider the position.

The second thought reminded him that although he would be responsible and a good role model, his best friend wouldn't be.

Lily nudged James with her shoulder. "Come on," she said. Her fingers brushed against his for a second, and it was almost enough electricity to shock him out of his thoughts. Almost. "We're supposed to circulate the platform," Lily continued. After a moment, Lily realized that she hadn't heard hardly a breath from James. She looked up at his face, and frowned. "What's the matter?" she asked, in a soft, ultra-feminine voice.

James's eyebrows were smushed together in the middle, and his mouth was set in a firm line. James looked down at Lily, met the shiny emeralds that took refuge in her eye sockets, and tore down his mental fence. "Lily?" James sighed, relishing for a moment the feel her name had on his tongue. Lily smiled and tilted her head to the side. "I'm going to tell you something and I don't want you to laugh."

"James," Lily said, in her most serious voice. "I might have to."

James stopped walking, and Lily immediately halted too. "I'm really nervous about Sirius." Lily eyes did a 360. "I'm really nervous about Sirius because, I'm Head Boy. I have to be the one to keep him in line. I have to be the one to tell him what he can't or shouldn't do. I have to set an example. And Sirius is going to hate me."

"James! You heard Remus before; he said he'll keep Sirius in line."

It was James's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, relying on Remus to watch Sirius is like….relying on a wolf to watch the chickens." James wanted to laugh, but that just might reveal something that shouldn't be revealed. "Sirius has some sort of power of persuasion over Remus. Remus lets him get away with everything."

Lily stopped trying to stifle her giggles. "James Potter! Like you don't know why Black has some sort of power over Remus."

"Just because they're boyfriends doesn't mean that Sirius is innocent," James said. Then he mentally smacked himself. He would have mentally killed himself, if he knew how. No, he thought. I'm supposed to stop egging this on. Stop! James had gotten so used to agreeing with Lily and her theory that he couldn't stop himself anymore. And he didn't want to. It made Lily happy; but as he thought about it, he couldn't figure out why.

"To Remus he is innocent," Lily said. "It's like…if I set up an invisible string in front of the train that would make everyone who wanted to board, fall flat onto the ground, and you found out….would you really give me detention?"

"I'd worship you, if you did that."

"See," Lily laughed.

"Lily?" James swallowed hard and locked eyes with the red head. "Why do you care so much that Sirius and Remus are dating?" He whispered the last part, checking around for any spies.

"I don't care," Lily said. Her face twisted slightly, like she was really thinking about something. "It's just…." Lily trailed off. She looked up at James and then tore her eyes quickly away. "I'm jealous," she whispered with a shrug.

"Of…Remus? Because he's, cough, with, cough, Sirius?"

"No!" The mere thought of liking Sirius Black was enough to make her want to vomit. "No. I'm jealous of their relationship. Of how they were friends first. It makes everything different, better. It's like true love." Lily turned to look at the crowd of people on the platform, before settling her eyes back on James. "Guys never want to become friends first."

"Lily," James said, straightening his back and mustering all the strength he ever possessed. "I want to be your friend."

Lily couldn't help the laugh that escaped her pursed lips. "Wow, James. So, if I told you that guys never want to give you a million galleons first…would you want to give me the money? Because if that's the case, I'll say that right now."

"Lily, I want us to be friends," James started again. "And so you should know that…that…you're wrong."

Lily leaned in closer to James. "Hark?"

Bugger, James thought. Lily's voice already had that bite to it. "Sirius and Remus are not dating. They never were, they never will. They, well Sirius definitely, likes girls."

"But," Lily stammered, venom creeping into her words. "You?"

"I know," James panicked. "I know what I told you over this summer. I was, ahem, not lying but-" Lily was going to kill him with her stare, James was sure of it. "Ok, I was lying."

"You were lying to me?" Lily asked. "All those times?"

James nodded and thought about how deep he had dug his grave. It probably reached the Americas.

Between the night Lily and James parted outside Sirius's apartment to the night before this very moment, Lily and James owled back and forth at least once a day. James was sure he was dying or dreaming or delusional because Lily Evans Was Writing To Him. Lily Evans Was Obviously Interested In Him. It was too much to handle. James felt that he was given the world's most badly assembled bomb, and if he made one wrong move, the whole universe would explode. He had to say things like: "I'm not going to visit Sirius because Remus is there and I want to give them some private time before school." Or "Sirius told me he liked Remus and I helped him confess to Remus, who I knew liked Sirius back." Or "Sirius and Remus know some good silencing charms…I'm sure Remus would teach them to you." James had to say things like that because it favored him. It showed Lily that he was a true friend, loyal no matter what, a God among mutts! And Lily bought the whole thing.

Looking back, James regretted nothing except the fact that all he told her were lies.

"I can't believe it, Potter," Lily spat. "How could you?"

James grabbed Lily's arm and dragged her over to a small corner away from the crowd. "I only made you think you were right, because it got you to talk to me; really talk to me. And that's all I ever wanted." James was positive that that was going to make Lily swoon.

"I would have really talked to you, Potter," Lily said back. There was not even a sign of a possible swoon happening. "Eventually. After you dropped that I'm So Great attitude. But, now everything's tainted!"

"Well," James started, searching for something to say. "If you didn't act like you were so deeply invested in Sirius and Remus's love life-"

"Sirius Black could be dating McGonagall! Flitwick! His cousin! I really don't care what Black…or Remus, do in their love lives. I just made an observation. An observation about them….and an observation about you, James Potter. But, I guess I should get my eyes checked."

"Is that a blow against people with glasses, because that's not fair."

Lily stared at James like his head shrunk. "Are you mental?"

"Look, Lily. I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't change the fact that you made me look like a fool and lied to me!"

Sirius was creeping along the wall; padding closer and closer to the two shadows that he identified as one James Potter and one Lily Evans. He spotted them immediately when he stepped off the train. They were standing in the middle of the platform, eye to eye. Then, he watched James pull Lily away to a deserted corner and Sirius knew that this was no ordinary conversation.

"But, now everything's tainted!"

Sirius was a step away from the pair. Not that they noticed, they only had eyes for each other. Unfortunately, for everyone involved they were more like evil, glared eyes as opposed to the more desired puppy dog, lovey eyes.

Sirius heard James whisper-yell: "-act like you were so deeply invested in Sirius and Remus's love life-" and he now could confirm what they were talking about. James was finally really telling Lily that she was wrong about Remus and himself. It didn't seem to be going very well, Sirius thought.

Sirius bent over slightly to catch a glimpse of James's face; and what he saw made his heart melt.

James looked perfectly miserable. Heartbroken; like he was bearing witness to his own world falling apart. It kind of was. James almost had Lily. He tasted victory. He was happy and Sirius had to admit that James's smile was high wattage. Sirius definitely liked Happy Prongs better than Love Sick Prongs.

Sirius suddenly felt horrible. It was his fault James was in this position. His fault for losing commonsense in the face of Remus Lupin and his warming, compatible personality. His fault for developing an unusual, but fun, friendship with the same boy. His fault for making James give up his dream.

Sirius felt awful.

"Look, Lily. I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't change the fact that you made me look like a fool and lied to me!"

And there was only one way that Sirius could think of to save his best friend.

"What's going on over here?" Sirius shouted, rounding on James and Lily.

James looked miserable and angry and insane all in one punch. Lily's face was beginning to rival her hair. "You heard all of that?" she asked in an embarrassed whisper.

"Yes," Sirius said. Lily looked at her feet, and Sirius took that moment to send James a, hopefully, reassuring wink. "And Prongs," Sirius continued. "I know you're keeping the promise and I'm grateful-"

"The promise?"

Sirius laughed and locked eyes with a very confused Lily. "He's relentless!" Lily smiled awkwardly for a second. "Prongs! You don't have to lie to Evans!"

James choked on his own oxygen and glared at Sirius. "Why are you out here, Padfoot?"

Sirius blinked, but kept his composure. "Oh," he said. "Well, I came here to ask you to, uh, yeah, come get Peter to leave the compartment!" Sirius just loved playing the hero; and because he was so delighted about rescuing his best friend from a shattered heart, he momentarily forgot about Werewolves. He raised his eyebrows at Lily and adopted his best scorching, suggestive look. "I want some time alone with my boyfriend."