A/N: So, like it so far? I hope so, because I am having fun with this one. So, let's continue, shall we?
Disclaimer: I only own the ladies and guys and stuff like that that you don't recognize. Everything else belongs to the amazingly talented JK Rowling.
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Lily and James walked back to the castle in silence for the first bit of the walk. When Lily looked up at him, the cold biting her bare arms, she saw the red handprints across his face.
"Sorry for that," she whispered softly.
"I deserved it, but Padfoot may deserve it more," he said with a small grin. "Hey, Evans," he began.
"Yes?" she asked, dreading the question she knew was coming.
"Um…do you think we should go and tell the others that this whole prank thing is over?" asked James. Lily's eyes grew wide she could practically feel them bulging out of her head. Then, she became her playful self again.
"I think we should stay away from them for a while. Just long enough so that they think I might have actually killed you," she joked. Something was different about them, they didn't hate each other, but they didn't love each other either. They were still at each other's throats, but it was different, more playful.
"Like you could actually kill me, Evans," snorted James.
"Wanna bet, Potter?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"So, what can I do to actually get you to be a true friend, Evans?" he asked after about five more minutes, his hand rumpling his hair even worse.
"Stop hexing little kids in the halls for starters, and stop messing your hair up more than it is," she snapped. His hand flew back down to his side. "Stop asking me out more than once per day, and the staring should probably stop. And the pranks, puh-lease stop with those, but I only want them to stop on me, the others can, at times, be funny."
"I guess I could try," he said quietly.
"That's all I'm asking," she said, equally silent.
"So, you really think you could hurt me?" he asked jokingly.
"Yes, actually, I do. Wanna know why? Because I'm smarter, brains over brawn, Potter, brains over brawn," she laughed.
"I wouldn't day you're smarter, you probably have more logical thinking and common sense than me though," he laughed.
"Well, everyone knows that," she smirked. They started walking again, James with his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket and Lily shivering because she was still wearing her cap-sleeved top.
"Did we just have a civilized conversation?" asked Lily after a few more minutes of silence.
"I think we did," James joked. He looked down at Lily and saw the goose bumps on her arms. "Are you cold, you look cold."
"A little," she shrugged, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her tight, flair jeans.
"Why didn't you say something? Here," he began shrugging out of his jacket and pushed it into Lily's hands.
"James, no, you'll be cold," she said softly.
"So, I have long-sleeves on, you are an idiot wearing a short-sleeved shirt in the middle of winter," he joked. She took the jacket from him, glaring at him anyway. He placed his hand over his chest as though hurt.
"Oh shut up," she snapped, trying not to crack a smile. She pulled the jacket on, but it was far too big. It went down past her butt and her arms didn't reach the ends of the sleeves and she had to push them back with her hands in hope of actually being able to hold her wand if such an occasion would arise in which she'd need it.
"So, I think we should put on an act for the rest of them, what do you think? Just for the first couple of days. I'm sure we could make it very convincing," James joked.
"Nothing really has changed, after all, it's not like we can just pick up and be friends, Potter," she said, a smirk on her face. "But, I think, since we've decided to at least be civil to one another, that we should put on an act for a while and then act like everything's okay in a few days should be funny to watch them squirm with anger when they think we'll never be friends."
"So, yelling at each other when we enter the common room and storming off to opposite dormitories?" suggested James.
"Sounds good to me," she laughed.
"Hey, Evans," he began.
"Oh, what now," she groaned.
"Will you go out with me?" he asked, a smirk planted on his face. She punched him lightly on the arm.
"No," she said with a grin. He placed a hand over his heart again with a fake look of sadness. Something was different this time, it wasn't really much of an embarrassment, but more flattering, and she seemed to enjoy the faux shock look on his face when she turned him down now. She thought it was funny. They walked back up to the castle in silence. Lily was still angry about what Sirius had said, true or not, and she didn't want to bring it up in case she might blow up. When they got to the top of the staircase, they made sure anyone in the common room would hear them.
"I cannot believe you think I'm your property!" Lily shouted, a look of anger glued to her face. James really was intimidated by the glare coming from her emerald green eyes that could melt the soul of anyone who wasn't able to laugh at an approaching lion that wanted to eat you, which James could, seeing as he ran around with a werewolf every month.
"Well, you should never have made a move on my best mate, you whore!" James yelled as loud as he could.
"Oh, whatever you immature little bastard, I hate you," Lily yelled back.
"Ms. Evans, Mr. Potter," came McGonagall's voice from behind them. "I do not condone the use of such language in this facility. Detention, Monday night, come to my classroom." She stalked off before turning around again. "And, ten points from Gryffindor each."
"Ten points, detention?" whined Lily. How had she managed to get two detentions in the course of about three or four days? She threw James his coat so as not to give anything away when they entered the common room.
"Calm down, Evans, you'll be fine," James whispered, putting the coat back on. "We have an act to keep up after all."
"Oh yeah," she whispered, before moving to a more threatening voice. "You lying jerk!"
"Ha, like that means something to me, Evans. I can't believe you hit me!"
"You deserved it!" she yelled. "Peruvian Vipertooth," she said quietly to the portrait of the Fat Lady, who swung open to admit them. Remus was shaking his head in disapproval, taking in the three handprints across James's face. Then, he saw Lily's smoldering eyes, her red face that matched her hair, and the clear anger tattooed across her furrowed brow. Tanya was sitting in the corner, her homework out and working on it, eyebrows raised, but still looking at the Transfiguration textbook, but her eyes weren't moving. Sirius and Claire both looked on the verge of laughing, but were hiding it exceptionally well, considering they were the giggliest people in the school besides the girls who giggled whenever Sirius walked by.
"I hate you, Potter!" she finished with a bang. She stormed up the girls staircase, trying not to bust up laughing. She was a good actress.
"Same goes for you, Evans!" James yelled up the stairs after her. He threw himself on the unoccupied couch in front of the coffee table. He laid back on it, his hand behind his head, looking up at the ceiling.
"Bad first date?" laughed Sirius, finally unable to keep it all in.
"Shut up, Padfoot," said James, grabbing one of the pillows and throwing it at Sirius. Claire was cracking up, rolling on the floor laughing. Her short, pleated skirt was, on occasion, going up and showing her underwear. Sirius was watching her intently like the dog he was back then.
"Nice undies, Martin," he snickered.
"Padfoot," Remus warned. James was watching with interest to see what would become of his friend's fate, due to the fact that he was supposed to be pretending that he thought Lily and Sirius were dating. Claire stopped abruptly. Her eyes turned into a tiger's and she looked at Sirius with pure loathing hatred. She stood up and sauntered over to him, her grace unmatchable at this moment. When she was less than a foot away, she smacked him, hard, across the face. Sirius's hand automatically flew up to the side of his face, feeling the hurt, sore, mark that was there. He pulled his hand away and it was bleeding. One of her nails had scratched him, too. He looked at her, about to hit her back when Remus grabbed his hand, holding him back.
"We don't hit girls," said Remus warningly. This woke Sirius up, he had never hit a girl, hitting a girl was like stepping on a mouse just to see it squeak in pain, it was wrong and the only reason he had retaliated was because he was angry. He dropped his hand and threw Remus's grip off his arm and muttered a soft and almost inaudible sorry to Claire before walking upstairs and leaving them alone. Claire's eyes were wide open and shocked. She really though he would've hit her, and she would've expected him to. Maybe Sirius was different than she though, maybe he was a really good guy at heart.
"He deserved the slap, Martin," said James thoughtfully, laying back down on the couch with his hands behind his head. "After all, he is my best mate, he shouldn't be all over my girl."
"Oh my goodness, James!" Tanya said, snapping her book shut and causing the whole room to look at her in surprise. "She isn't yours!"
"Yeah, Potter, she is only your girl if you two are dating, and even if you were, that's not going to make her your property. She's with Sirius and Sirius likes her. He wasn't trying to make you angry," lied Claire. She stood up, brushing off the back of her mini skirt and sauntered over to the couch where James sat. She stretched her arm out and hit James on the forehead with the butt of her hand. "Wake up!" she said loudly. James shook his head from the impact. Claire could be tough when she wanted to be. She was always the latest gossip among the males of the school, every single one of them imagined being in love with her because she was so beautiful. Did none of them know how sweet a person she was too, how smart and caring. James grabbed her wrist, the sleeve of her shirt overtop if it (Claire always wore long sleeves for some reason), and stopped her from hitting him again.
"Stop it," he said angrily. "So, any new boyfriend, Claire?" he asked. There was no way Lily would tell him, and Tanya was busy with her homework. Claire was the only one of the trio ready for conversation.
"Yes, if you must know, I am dating a Ravenclaw as of this afternoon. His name is Jack Rowans," she replied with a grin, referring to the sandy-haired, muscled bad boy with the strangest and most alluring eyes she had ever seen. They were strange, on the outside of the iris, they were a hazel-ish color, and then they faded to a bluish green in the middle.
"Wait, that genius of a Quidditch captain?" asked James in shock. They were both the youngest Quidditch captains ever. James and he had both been selected that year, both of them sixth year students. Jack had proven to be one of the best strategy planners he had ever met. They had made so many plays with so many different signals for each, that James didn't even bother to try and remember them. On top of that, he was the hottest (probably from the whole bad-boy thing) guy in sixth year after Sirius, James, and Remus. James hated the guy.
"Yeah," she shrugged.
"For goodness sake, Claire, you're dating the enemy, we play them in a week. You better not do anything stupid for him," James aid through narrowed eyes.
"James, I love Quidditch more than anything, you think I would throw the game for some guy?" she asked with surprise. James had been on her team for four and half years now, he should know her better than that.
"Sorry forgot. I can't have my best flier, fastest chaser, and smartest player throwing games, I was worried, that's all," said James. Sirius was watching Claire form the stairs with a look of pure loathing on his face. He didn't hate her, not really; he hated this Jack fellow. Something was about to happen to him if Sirius ever saw the two of them together.
"He only wants your ass!" interjected Sirius, coming down the stairs. This was enough to make Claire want to kill him.
"Yeah, and why do you date other girls, it's definitely not personality that's got you hooked!" she shouted back at him. Sirius flinched back at the venom her could feel in her tone. Sirius turned away from her, not willing to face her. Claire gritted her teeth and ran up to the girls' dormitory, throwing herself on her bed crying. Lily had never seen Claire this upset in her entire time knowing her. Sirius had definitely said something very wrong this time.
Sirius was angry, angry at a few thing, first and foremost, himself, he had never said something like that to Claire, something that could be taken as protective and looking out for her, never. Them he was mad at this Jack kid because he knew him well enough to know what was going on. He had heard him talking about his girlfriend at lunch today. He had said the name Elizabeth Parelli, a Hufflepuff who was okay looking, but very, very curvy and very developed. She was definitely not a prude girl either. If Sirius was right, Rowans hadn't broken up with her yet. He had to find out for Claire, to keep her from getting hurt, and that brought around another hatred, a hatred of his feelings. He shouldn't care whether Claire got hurt. Sirius Black did not get crushes, did he?
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A/N: Ha ha, Sirius is about to kill someone, and everyone thinks that James and Lily are even madder at each other than usual. But at the same time, this is oh so adorable because Sirius is all protective of Claire and all, how sweet! This is hilarious I think. So, read, review, you know the drill!