Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: Thanks to all of the people who read and reviewed! Lils, cerdinalz, E Patronum, potterfreak001, betherny, Totally Raven, and warm summer days.

Sorry for taking a while to update. School has started once again (sigh), so I haven't had much to time to update, but since it's Labor Day weekend (YAY) I found time to load the next chapter! So, this chapter actually happens a little bit before the last chapter and it's from Lily's point of view. (It will all make sense once you read it, I promise)

I hope you all enjoy it!

OOO

Chapter 5: Surprises from Sirius

Lily entered her dormitory, slamming the door behind her hard enough to knock off a picture frame from the wall. Ignoring the shouts of indignation from the group of witches living in the fallen painting, Lily strode over to her bed, throwing her retrieved diary onto it, before grabbing her pillow and screaming into it.

"Who shoved a broomstick up your arse?" Lily's friend, and dorm mate, Olivia Sheffield, asked over the top of her magazine.

Lily lowered the pillow from her face to stare at her friend. "Three guesses who, although you probably only need one," she answered, plopping down onto her bed.

Olivia put down her magazine, a look of sympathy in her eye. "Again?" she asked. "I thought you were beginning to like him."

"I never said I liked him," she retorted angrily, trying to fight the blush from appearing on her face.

Her friend grinned, pushing her curly brown hair from her face. "Right. Okay."

"Fine, maybe I was starting to like him a little bit," Lily blurted out, her cheeks reddening, "but not anymore," she added quickly.

"What happened?"

In a fit of rage, Lily picked up her diary and shoved it into the air. "This," she screamed, waving the book about, "this is what happened!"

"Your diary?" Olivia asked, a hint of confusion in her voice.

Lily huffed, throwing her little book back onto her bed. "Yes, my diary."

There was silence for a moment as Olivia waited for Lily to calm down. She was rather used to her friend's rant and raves about James Potter by now. "So, are you going to explain what this all means, or should I just pretend that I know what you're talking about?" Olivia finally asked, her blue eyes curious.

Sighing, Lily recounted to her friend all of what had happened earlier that day; Olivia uttered sympathetic words occasionally, but in all honesty she found it rather amusing. A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"What is so funny?" Lily demanded, catching the grin, "There is nothing funny about this situation, Liv."

Olivia tried to rearrange her face into a more understanding expression, but gave up as a small giggle escaped her lips. Lily's eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry, Lils, but it sounds kind of…comic. Although," she began again, at the look on Lily's face, "I'm sure it wasn't funny when it happened."

Lily crossed her arms, mumbling incoherent rude things about James. The silence was broken when Olivia laughed shortly, "You threw it at his head?"

"Shut up," Lily retorted, her bad mood refusing to lift. It didn't help matters either that her supposed 'best friend' was laughing at the situation rather than calling Potter obscene names.

"Oh, come on, Lily. Wouldn't you find it funny if it had happened to me and I was telling you about it?"

"No, I wouldn't, because first of all, it's not funny in the slightest; second of all, you don't keep a diary, so I would never have to worry about this happening to you; and third of all, you don't like bloody James Potter," Lily explained quickly, counting off the reasons on her fingers.

A mysterious smile made its way across Olivia's face. "So, you admit you still like him then?"

Lily's head snapped up as she stared at her friend. "I never said that," she denied, attempting to hide her guilty face by moving to the windowsill to look out the window.

"I think you did, Lily," her friend taunted, waving a finger at Lily.

Lily stomped her foot on the ground angrily. "I refuse to like a boy who can't respect my personal belongings. If he can't respect my property, he can't respect me."

Olivia smirked. "And I'm guessing he can't like a girl who doesn't respect his personal property either?"

"What are you talking about?" Lily said quickly, averting her friend's gaze.

"You know what I'm talking about," Olivia said, reading her magazine again.

"I do not know that that is a thing I know," she replied, scratching her head in confusion of her own words.

"Well, then," Olivia began, putting down her magazine once more, "I'll just spell it out for you. James' parchment."

Lily paled, looking out the window again. "That was not my fault." It really hadn't been her fault…and yet, she couldn't help but feel guilty about it.

Olivia shrugged. "Maybe so. But it was still in your possession when you lost it."

Groaning, Lily looked closely at her friend. "How does that have to do with anything?"

Her friend shrugged carelessly. "It may have nothing to do with your diary issue, or it may relate to it a tiny bit."

"I hate it when you get all philosophical on me," Lily complained, rubbing her temples soothingly.

Olivia laughed as she stood up. "Yeah, well what our friends for?"

"They aren't meant to try to make you feel guilty when your diary was in the possession of a Marauder," Lily said grumpily.

Olivia merely smiled. "I'll talk to you later, Lils. Hopefully the tables haven't been completely cleared yet; chocolate pudding sounds good to me right now. You want me to bring you some back?"

Lily shook her head. "No, that's alright. See you," Lily said as her friend walked out of the dorm, leaving her alone.

Finding nothing else to do, and needing to let out some more vented up steam, she picked up her diary, flicking through the pages until she found a blank one.

And that's when it fell out.

A small white envelope fell from the back of the diary, fluttering onto her bed right where she could see it. Curiosity gripped her attention as she stared at it, wondering how in the world it got there. One lone single word was written on the top of the envelope in a messy scrawl, the black ink contrasting vibrantly with the whiteness of the cover. Lily.

Since it was addressed to her, Lily reached out and picked it up, sliding a finger under the seal. She pulled out a piece of parchment which was folded neatly and covered with the same handwriting as on the front. Careful not to rip it, she unfolded it. Was that roses? She asked herself, as a powerful, yet pleasing aroma drifted through her nose. She breathed in the scent deeply and it oddly soothed her. Returning her attention back towards the letter, she began to read.

Lily,

I just wanted to apologize for not returning your diary as soon as you asked for it. I know I invaded your privacy and I really am sorry. You probably don't believe me, which I wouldn't blame you seeing as I lost your trust a while back, but I felt like I should apologize anyway.

Also, I wanted to let you know that I really did enjoy being friends with you for the short amount of time you considered me one, before I screwed everything up. Curiosity really can become a sin when you allow it to get the better of you; I guess I do that a lot. Maybe, one day I'll regain your trust and we can start over.

James

PS- I'm sorry about the death of your dad. Again, I'm sorry if it's a sore subject and I shouldn't have brought it up, but I know how you must have felt for I almost lost both of my parents last year. If you ever want to talk--although I'm sure you'd rather not talk to me at the moment--I just wanted to let you know I'm here.

She stared at it, speechless, for a good five minutes, completely at a loss for any words. But then a jumble of emotions began to rise inside of her chest, just waiting to burst out of its jail cell. Rage; the first emotion that took over her sense of reasoning. How dare that prat take her diary, read it, and then mention her father's death to her. No one was supposed to know about her dad's passing; if everyone found out, the school would just send her pity presents and talk to her as if she were a delicate glass goblet about to shatter into pieces. She did not need pity.

And yet, another emotion, the complete opposite of the first, escaped the hold she had on it. What was it exactly? She couldn't quite place this new and strange feeling. Was it liking? Lily shook her head, desperately willing herself to shove this foreign emotion into the back of her mind. However hard she tried to suppress the feeling, this sense of liking fought harder attempting to seep into the depths of her understanding. In all honesty, she couldn't deny that a small crush had started to form for James Potter, her sworn enemy since third year. But after all he had just done to her, how could she possibly still hold a bit of fancy for this inconsiderate jerk?

The letter was shaking in her hand as she re-read it, desperately trying to find something in the letter that would make her hatred for Potter resurface. Her attempts were to no avail. This note was so...sincere; there was no better word for it. His mention about her father wasn't meant to be a gloating tool that he had read her inner most thoughts, but they were a true sense of concern. And it wasn't pity either; it seemed more as if he had used it in order to rekindle their lost friendship. The note made her remember all the reasons she had started falling for him; his loyalty, his soft side, and his helpfulness towards her.

But then she remembered the parchment that belonged to the Marauders that she had so foolishly let out of her possession. What if James hated her now? Olivia was right. She had broken respect for James' little joke-parchment by taking it and then letting Filch get his hands on it. She had done the exact same thing he had, except worse because now there was no way she could give it back to its rightful owners. This whole fight seemed so stupid, so childish, and yet it had been almost as destructive as an Unforgivable Curse.

She knew what she had to do. Hastily making up her mind—before she could allow herself to rethink her decision—she folded up the note, replaced it in its envelope, and ran out of her dormitory and into the common room. Her mission: search for James Potter.

"Bla—Sirius," Lily called out as she descended the staircase and entered the common room. Using first names was much more friendly than referring to a person by their last name, and right now Lily needed to be as friendly as humanly possible.

Sirius looked up from his discussion with his current girlfriend, Alexia Riley, and his eyes instantly narrowed as they landed upon the red-head. "Hello, daughter of the devil," he said, turning his head on her. Lily's stomach dropped; this would be harder than she thought. She knew she had upset them, but seriously it was only a piece of paper designed to talk to anybody who tried to read it.

"Look, I'm sorry for losing your piece of parchment," she said, trying to gain the boy's attention again.

He mumbled something incoherently that sounded oddly like, "Piece of parchment my arse."

"Can you please tell me where James is?" Lily asked, sitting on the arm of the couch that Sirius and his girlfriend were occupying. Cutting straight to the chase seemed the best thing to do at the moment.

Sirius looked at her suspiciously. "Why do you want to know?"

"I want to talk to him."

"That's girl code for 'I'm going to kick his butt and then bury him alive'," Sirius said, crossing his arms determinedly.

"He's up in their dormitory," Alexia answered, rolling her eyes at her boyfriend. Sirius glared at her.

"Thanks," Lily replied, smiling. She turned around to head up there, feeling proud with herself for winning the conversation.

"No, I can not allow you up there," Sirius yelled, jumping up from the couch and running over to the boys' staircase, blocking the entrance.

Placing her hands on her hips, she said, "Sirius I promise I just want to talk to him, okay?"

"Just hours ago you were condemning us to hell. I don't believe you Miss Evil."

Resisting the urge to move Sirius forcefully with her wand, Lily breathed in deeply. "Just let me up there."

"I can't."

"You can't?" she repeated disbelievingly. Honestly, this boy could be so irritating sometimes.

"Yes, I can't."

"Well, how come?" she questioned, cocking her head to the side in sign of mock curiosity. She smiled sweetly at him.

Sirius snorted. "Flattery isn't going to work on me, Evans."

Lily groaned and simply tried to push past Sirius, but he held her back. "Sirius, you are really starting to annoy me."

"Sorry, but a top secret Marauder meeting is about to take place up there, and James is preparing," Sirius explained, blowing a kiss at his girlfriend who was leaving to her dormitory.

Lily observed him carefully. "You're lying," she said flatly.

Sirius puffed out his chest indignantly. "I am not. He's in deep thought trying to devise a plan for retrieving our map that you so gratefully gave to Filch."

"Map?" Lily asked, true curiosity showing across her features. Map? What did that mean?

Sirius swore under his breath before he tried to cover up his mistake. He looked up at her nervously, attempting to laugh. "Map? I didn't say map. I said parchment."

"Sirius, you said map."

"I did not."

"It was a map that I lost?" Lily asked attentively, probing Sirius for answers.

Sirius seemed to deflate as he let out a long, deep breath. "Can you just pretend you didn't hear that?" he asked her, his eyes hopeful. Bugger, sometimes he wished someone would just sew his mouth together.

"I most certainly can not. You said it! I heard it! I want you to tell me what kind of map it was," her voice was assertive as she stared at him with her bright green eyes.

"Not like it matters anymore, because you already handed the Marauder's most prized possession over to the other spawn of the devil, Filch," Sirius answered. "Now, I will not allow you up to see James' after the information you just coaxed out of me."

"I didn't coax anything out of you. You just blurted it out."

"So? You're still not getting past me."

Lily sighed tiredly, realizing she would never win against an insanely stubborn Sirius Black. "Fine," she responded irritably, "I'll just let you get on with that 'top secret meeting' then. Tell James I want to talk to him, okay?"

"Sure thing," Sirius responded, bounding up the stairs. Lily was sure that all of what she had just said had flown into Sirius' right ear and out the other. Her chance of Sirius actually letting James know that she wanted to talk to him was slim to none. Sirius turned around quickly when he reached the top. "And don't you dare tell anybody of what you just heard from me. That's meant for Marauder ears only."

"I promise," she stated, her tone bored. Lily watched him go, her excitement of being able to talk to James diminishing as Sirius disappeared into the boys' dormitory. She could just walk up the stairs, ignoring Sirius' pleas for her not to go up, and demand to talk to James. Right as she put her foot on the first stair however, she heard someone shout her name.

"Lily! I brought chocolate," Olivia called, clambering out of the portrait hole and running over to where Lily stood, her foot hovering over the stairs leading to James. "Even though you said you didn't want it, I know chocolate always makes you feel better."

Lily let out a forced grin. James would have to wait for another day. "Thanks, Liv." She said thoughtfully, allowing her friend to pull her up the girls' staircase. With one last look up towards the boys' dormitory, Lily turned and followed Olivia.

OOO

Oh, silly Sirius. lol!

Please review! and thanks for reading!

--HeyLookTheSnitch