A/N: Edited 8/18.
October 16th, 1976
"Lily would you please pass the marmalade?" James asked Lily politely. Lily pushed it over to him, without looking at him. She must still be pissed about the debate last night. James laughed quietly, looking at me. He knew that his proficiency in Transfiguration annoyed her more than anything – she simply hated being beaten by a guy who she claimed spent less time on his studies than he did coming up with new ways to ask her out. Speaking of asking her out, there was a Hogsmeade weekend coming up, and we were all due for a shouting match…
As if on cue, James's spoke again, "Hey Lily, Hogsmeade is next weekend – first one of the term - would you fancy going with me?" He looked ridiculously calm, considering this was, by my count, the 400th time he had asked her on a date. The Marauders were also being very quiet, and they usually made a big deal over the Mr. and Mrs. Potter Project – as they fondly called it. The party they threw for the 100th time Lily shot James down is told as an urban legend to first years on their first night in the common room. Remus was once again reading at the table, shocker, and Peter was looking more clueless than normal. Sirius was balancing his head on his hand and charming his knife to butter his toast, rather than doing it himself.
Lily looked up from her plate to look at James, who was looking expectantly at her. He always held out hope that she would say yes, even after almost 400 rejections. It was something that I loved most about James. He was pure…hope. He was someone who would believe the best in someone until he pulled the dagger out of his back- and even then, he would try to explain why they had stabbed him in the first place. James was light shining through the darkness, and based on the news that I read every morning, it was only getting darker out there. We would need more people like James if we were going to get through the next several years.
"I…er…yes James, that would be lovely," Lily stammered, her face immediately blushing red to match her hair.
"That's okay Lily, I'll ask again next….wait! Yes? Did you just say yes?" James was halfway through his dejected acceptance of yet another rejection, before his brain seemed to process that Lily had not said no. Sirius's knife dropped with a clamor, spraying butter across the table onto Peter's face, Remus looked up from his book shocked, and Peter's mouth had dropped open, completely disregarding that he was now covered in butter.
"Yes, James. I will go out with you." Lily smiled broadly at James, embarrassed at how loudly James then shouted in glee.
"Good on you, buddy," Remus smiled genuinely, clapping James on the back. Peter clapped his hands and whooped, a grin stretching across his pointed face. Sirius got up on the bench and announced to the entire Great Hall that there would be no 400th Rejection Party, as expected, because the Mr. and Mrs. Potter Project had finally reached it's second, and final stage – date acceptance. He then announced that the first annual "Lily said yes" party would take place that night in the Gryffindor Common Room. Professor McGonagall had come down from the head table in the front of the hall at this point, and had wrangled Sirius down off of the bench with promises of "months of detention if you don't stop interrupting everyone's morning eggs, immediately." The entire time she was telling him off McGonagall was smiling tightly, and I could have sworn I heard her mutter under her breath "make sure it's over by 11PM," to Sirius as she walked back to the head table to finish her meal.
James was smiling the entire time, but had been mostly ignoring Sirius's antics as he and Lily had arranged a time and place to meet to walk down to Hogsmeade together. It was super sweet watching James talk quietly to Lily, ignoring the loudness of the Great Hall. Everyone was talking excitedly, either about the party Sirius had promised, or because the determination of James Potter had finally paid off. James was my best friend, although we had hardly spent any time together this year, and I was so happy to see him smiling. I made a note to spend more time with him – even though we spent almost every weekend together at Quidditch practice, we hadn't spent any time just the two of us since last year. Maybe I could get him alone for a minute at the party tonight and have a celebratory drink with him – I was sure Sirius would find a way to sneak firewhiskey in before the party started – to celebrate him finally getting the girl of his dreams.
I had no doubt that Lily and James were meant for each other, and had been since the minute they met. They had met before ever stepping foot inside of Hogwarts. Sirius and James had casually known each other before school, as both of their families were pureblood and they had been dragged to parties together for years. They didn't truly become friends until the Hogwarts Express, because for the first time Sirius was able to freely denounce his Slytherin heritage and declare his loyalty to Gryffindor – a belief that bonded the two boys for life. Peter and Remus had joined the two a short while in to the trip, as their previous compartment had been evacuated due to a stray dungbomb going off in someone's trunk, and thus – the Marauders were born! As legend goes, James had seen Lily yell at a third year boy twice her size because they had been picking on her friend – Severus Snape – and had been so enamored by her vivaciousness that he had leaned over to Sirius and said, "Mark my words, mate, I am going to marry that girl." Now, whether that is true or not I can neither confirm nor deny, but I do know that those two are meant for each other. James has shown, recently, that he can make Lily smile like no one else, and Lily has managed to encourage James to grow up. Theirs was a story for the ages, and I was happy that I was here to see it.
"I think it's about that time, Padfoot," Remus said under his breath, looking over his shoulder to make sure McGonagall hadn't snuck back down from the head table. I snapped out of memory lane, and refocused my attention on the boys sitting across from me.
"Time for what, Moony?" Sirius asked, faking ignorance. I snorted, knowing that Sirius was trying to make Remus say it outright. It was making Sirius incredibly happy to see his rule-abiding friend (a prefect!) leading the charge in their rule breaking.
"Come on Pads. You know," Remus was blushing, his sandy blond hair falling in to his eyes, and he was barely whispering. He fiddled with his prefect badge, as if the badge was listening to his every word and reporting back to Albus Dumbledore himself.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to speak up, my fury friend. I don't have the hearing of a dog, you know!" Sirius barked out a laugh at his own joke.
"Alcohol run," Remus said shortly and quietly. I was happy that they didn't seem to be including me in this discussion. James had taken me once with him through the underground tunnel to Honeydukes on an alcohol run. It had been cool to know how the boys had managed to steal alcohol for all of those years, but honestly once was enough for me. It was a far walk underground, and I wasn't a fan of tight spaces. I was bummed though, knowing that Sirius was likely to cancel our studying plans in favor of an adventure with the Marauders.
"Oh yeah, Moony, do you think you and Wormtail could take care of it this time? Me and Jones are going to study today," Sirius said, surprising everyone but himself with his words.
"Oh, I don't mind Sirius. I obviously didn't expect today to be such a momentous occasion," I jumped in, not trying to make Sirius do something he doesn't want to do. He should go with the boys, if he wants to.
"Nah, I really need the time to study. Plus, we all know you'll bomb the euphoria charm on Monday if I don't help you. I'm really helping the team you know, we don't need you doing extra revision instead of practicing for the match against Hufflepuff," Sirius said decidedly, throwing a wink at me towards the end to show that he was kidding.
"Wait a minute," James interjected suddenly, having finished making his plans with Lily. "Are you telling me that Sirius Black is skipping out on an alcohol run to study with you, Addie?"
"…Yes?" I said hesitantly, unsure if James was accusing me of something or not.
"Sirius Black, who once told me that he hated you more than all of the Death Eaters put together?" James asked in disbelief.
"Come on Prongs, I was clearly kidding! There is no way Jones is worse than my lovely cousin Bella," Sirius jumped in, looking at me to see if I was upset.
"Or what about the time you told us that you would rather kiss the Giant Squid than be in the same room as Jones alone?" Peter asked, happy to be included in the conversation and not be the victim of the teasing, for once.
"Come on guys, lay off." Remus shot me an apologetic look, clearly not wanting the boys to continue to insult me. I snorted to myself at Peter's comment because I knew for a fact that Sirius was actually terrified of the Giant Squid. He had fallen asleep in the common room one time when I was the last one up studying, and he had mumbled something alone the lines of "get those creepy tentacles off my shoulders." I'm convinced he was dreaming about being on a bad date with a handsy squid, but what do I know? He did avoid the path near the lake on the way to Herbology for an entire term, favoring the longer path that took him across the bridge and near Hagrid's hut, but that was circumstantial evidence at best.
I kept that bit of information to myself and simply said, "Well, I guess the times have changed. Hell has frozen over, pigs are flying, and some other cliché that I can't think of right now."
"Dragons are taming themselves?" Lily offered, a smile on her lips as she took in the ridiculousness of the situation. James was working himself into a tizzy over the fact that Sirius and I were going to study together. Imagine what he would do if we were to announce that we were going on a da- no Addie! You promised yourself that you wouldn't think like that about Sirius.
"Come on Black, let's go before James explodes," I stood up, taking my bag with me. As I walked away, I heard James sigh to Remus, "This has been the weirdest, but best, morning I have ever had at Hogwarts".
888
Sirius and I spent the entire day together, studying quietly side by side. We spoke intermittently throughout the day, but mainly stayed focused on our work. Sirius was a huge help with the Euphoria charm, explaining the theory to me in a way that I never could have grasped on my own. He was incredibly intelligent, and patient with me, explaining different points to me several times in different ways until I finally understood. He was showing me the side of him that James must have seen for years before I did – James was not the kind of person to become friends with someone who did not have redeeming qualities, after all. I mean, he was friends with me, wasn't he?
After a while, I found myself studying Sirius more than my notes. You could tell just by looking at him that he was from an aristocratic family. His nose was sloped perfectly downwards, delicate but masculine at the same time; he had cheekbones that most girls would kill for. And his jawline! - Strong and defined, but noble and refined at the same time. He was truly beautiful, a perfect product of pureblood upbringing. It was easy to see why all of the girls loved him, and it was easy to understand why Sirius moved on quickly. Nobody at this school took the time to get to know him beyond his looks. All people saw when they looked at him was the image he had perfected – the rebel Gryffindor from a rich family, all leather and cigarettes and girls. But the Sirius that I was seeing lately was studious, and kind, and protective, and… oh no. My heart was beating quickly as realization hit me – I was starting to fall for him. And I was starting to like him for the person he was, and not because I was finally falling for his charm. To me, that was worse than being hoodwinked by his good looks, because if I liked him for who he was as a person it was going to be harder to snap myself out of it.
"…Jones?" Sirius had shaken my arm, which was holding my head up. My hand slipped from under my chin, and my head knocked down on the table with a loud bang. I looked apologetically at Madame Pince, who was shooting daggers at me for the disruption, before widening my eyes at Sirius, asking him what he wanted with the expression on my face.
"I'm sorry, about that," he laughed quietly. "But I had been trying to get your attention for a hot second. It's time for me to pack up and head back to the common room. If I leave Remus and Pete to setup, the party will be a disaster. Last time I let Pete do the setup, he ate all of the pumpkin pasties before the party had even started and Mary threatened me with a Bat Bogey Hex three separate times. She's quiet, but scary."
"Oh, yeah no problem. I should head back up too. I should help Lily get ready, considering this party is kind of in her honor." I began to pack up my books, but stopped halfway through and looked up at Sirius, who had already packed up his own supplies and was waiting for me. "I want to thank you for helping me today. Honestly, I probably never would have gotten it without you. You're a good teacher."
"Don't mention it. I spent a bunch of time helping Reg with his schoolwork his first year, and he was hopeless at everything. You were a good student compared to him, you could at least articulate to me what you didn't understand so I could try a different approach."
We walked out of the library together. I adjusted the strap of my bag on my shoulder and hesitantly asked, "You don't talk about him much anymore. Your brother. Have you spoken since everything happened this summer?"
Sirius kept walking, and looking straight ahead. He didn't answer for a while, and I was prepared to let him off the hook – it's not like we were close, and I took a chance by even asking him such a personal question. But Sirius did answer, in a clipped tone; "I haven't spoken to Reg in almost two years." His tone made it clear that he wasn't going to say anything more about his brother right now. I was surprised he answered me at all, but I was more surprised by his answer. I couldn't imagine not talking to Lewis for two weeks, let alone two whole years – and I knew there was a time where Sirius would have felt the same way. James used to tell me stories all the time about how close Sirius and Regulus were. I grabbed his hand wordlessly, trying to lend him my support without making him talk about it. I went to pull my hand away after a moment, but he tightened his grip and held on. We held hands all the way back to the Fat Lady portrait. Sirius didn't let go until he gave her the password ("Niffler"), and stepped back to let me enter first.
We stood, rather awkwardly, looking at each other for just slightly longer than acceptable. I cleared my throat and motioned listlessly towards the girl's dormitories. "Well, I should go…get ready…for the party."
"Yeah… I should go help set up," Sirius responded, just as awkwardly. Before I could say anything else to embarrass myself, I quickly turned and bolted for the stairs. I practically ran upstairs, and by the time I reached the sixth year girl's dormitory, I was out of breath. Lily was looking at me perplexed, but before she could speak I excitedly exclaimed, "Can't wait! Let's get ready for your weddi…I mean party, Lils." Lily was so embarrassed that I almost said wedding that she went back to her makeup and didn't ask me why I was out of breath. I breathed out a sign of relief that I was able to distract her, and decided to distract myself by actually getting dressed up for the big event. And no, I convinced myself, wanting to look good had absolutely nothing to do with Sirius…right?
