"Sirius, hey Sirius," called Lily, running up to him in busy hallway. It was rare that he wasn't with his friends, and Lily wanted to take full advantage of it. Ahead of her, Sirius turned around to see her running up to him.
"Oh, hey Lily," said Sirius. "How are you going?"
"Good, good," said Lily, flushing slightly. "So, uh…we have that Hogsmeade visit coming up in a few days…"
"Uh huh," said Sirius, playing it cool despite what was going through his mind. "I'm aware."
"And, um…" started Lily, fumbling her words a bit. "I was wondering…would you go…with me?"
"Um…" started Sirius, almost at a loss for words before he composed himself. "I mean, I normally go with James, Peter, and Remus, and you normally hang out with Severus there, so why…"
"Just for something different," said Lily quickly. "I mean, you were one of my first friends when I found out about the magical world, and I almost never get to spend time with you alone. You're always wi…"
"Yes," interrupted Sirius.
"What?" asked Lily, confused by Sirius's comment.
"I suppose heading to Hogsmeade one time without the guys can't be too bad," said Sirius. "I mean, I feel like I haven't gotten to know anyone else in my own year level, or even my own house. This could be a good chance to do that."
"Oh…great. Great," said Lily excitedly. "So, I'll see you Saturday?"
"See you Saturday," said Sirius, as Lily headed off towards her next class. It wasn't until she'd disappeared around a corner that the full weight of what just happened fell on Sirius: Lily had asked him out. The girl that James had been after for five years had asked HIM, not James.
'Exactly,' said some small part of his brain. 'He's been pursuing her for five years, and hasn't made any ground. It was obviously never going to work, so it's your turn. It's what you've been wanting anyway.'
'It isn't fair to James,' screamed a much larger part of his brain. 'He's never given up hope on wooing Lily, and you're just going to take that away from him? You can't do that to your best friend.'
'Hush,' said the smaller part of his brain. 'James lost, that's the end of it. Plus, dating a muggle-born will REALLY annoying mum and dad.'
'NO!' screamed the larger part of his brain. 'You're not going to date Lily just to make mum and dad mad. You're gonna go up to James and explained what happened, and apologise.'
'Apologise for what?' demanded the smaller part of his brain. 'Lily made her choice, and it wasn't James. He can get over it. Plus, it's just a date. It's not like we're marrying her or anything.'
'You will explain it, and you will apologise,' said the larger part of his brain. 'And you will not date Lily for such petty reasons.'
Sirius was so distracted by his thoughts that he walked into the wall next to the door on his way into Charms class.
Later that night, Sirius saw James sitting alone in the common room. It was James and Peter's turn to go exploring the castle, so Sirius assumed that was why he was waiting there. Sirius took a deep breath, knowing what he had to say. "Hey, uh, James," said Sirius. "Can I talk to you about something?"
"Yeah, sure," said James, putting away sheets of parchment that looked like parts of the map. "Might want to be quick though, Peter's gonna be here soon."
"It's just…it's kinda awkward," said Sirius. "And I don't want you to get mad."
James looked confused, and narrowed his eyes a bit. "Why? What did you do?" he asked.
Sirius took a deep breath before he explained what happened. "It wasn't something I did, exactly," said Sirius. "But, uh…Lily…might have, sort of, asked me out." Sirius paused for a moment before adding quickly. "And I might have sort of said yes." Sirius held his breath for a long moment, waiting for James's response.
"Huh…" said James, after about half a minute of silence. "Okay. Good for you."
Now it was Sirius's turn to look confused. "That's…that's it?" asked Sirius. "The girl you've been in love with for five years asks me out instead of you, and that's all you've got to say?"
"Well, it's not like I was getting anywhere with her," said James, shrugging his shoulders. "So, it's not like I can complain if someone else gets to her before me."
"I just…I thought you'd have a bit of a problem with it," said Sirius, feeling a lot more relieved now. "You know, seeing as how you had dibs on her and all…"
"Nah, she's her own person," said James. "She's free to date whoever she wants, and if that's you, so be it."
"O…okay," said Sirius, about to turn and head up to the dormitory. "Thanks James."
"No problem buddy," said James as nonchalantly as possible, but Sirius still noticed it: James's hand shaking with what appeared to be rage, and a slight flush on his cheek.
'You gave him an out,' said the smaller part of his brain. 'Besides, it would be rude to cancel on Lily at this point.'
The larger part of his brain just sighed in frustration.
"This is nice, isn't it?" asked Lily, as she and Lily took their seats at the Three Broomsticks.
"Yeah, it's been fun," said Sirius. The two of them had been to Honeydukes and Zonko's, and this was to be the last stop on their trip to Hogsmeade before heading back. Despite stressing about what James would think, Sirius had enjoyed himself, and Lily had had a good time too.
"There's just something that I've been meaning to ask," said Lily. "And it's…kind of awkward."
"Hey, whatever it is, if you don't want me talking about it to anyone, I won't," said Sirius. "You can trust me, I promise."
"It's just…I don't want you to think less of me for what I'm about to say," said Lily, not making eye contact with Sirius.
"Whatever it is, I can take it," said Sirius sincerely.
Lily took a deep breath. "Okay," she said, looking up again. "So…I actually asked you out because…I wanted to talk about James."
Sirius froze. "Wh…what?" he asked. The inside of his mind was going wild. He was relieved that this wasn't actually a date, even if he was a bit disappointed by it too.
"I like him, okay?" Lily blurted out, clearly embarrassed. "I always have, even though sometimes he acts like a complete jerk, especially towards Severus. I just…I need someone to talk to about this. I knew Severus would be furious about this, Peter seems like he'd rat me out (Sirius flinched when she said 'rat', but thankfully Lily didn't notice), and I felt you were closer to James than Remus is."
"Yeah, I'd say that's true," said Sirius. "Though honestly, Remus is a lot smarter than me and would probably know what to say in this situation."
"Really? I didn't think he'd have had as much experience with girls as you did," said Lily.
"…yeah, that makes sense," said Sirius. "But why not tell James this?"
"It's just…" started Lily. "He's still so immature. If he wasn't such a jerk to Severus it would be fine."
"I get it," said Sirius. "Would you like me to talk to him for you?"
"Only if you want to," said Lily. "I don't want to seem like I'm asking too much."
"Nah, it's fine," said Sirius. "Since we're being honest, I think it's a good idea for me and the guys to back off of Severus. There are a few times when I'm been a bit scared of him, like he's about to go down a dark path. I don't want him to end up as a follower of You-Know-Who or something."
"Severus would never do something like that," objected Lily. "And why are you so scared to say Volde…"
"SHHH!" hushed Sirius, reaching across the table to cover Lily's mouth. "Don't say his name. He's done so much evil, caused so much pain, there are so many people who would rather not hear him spoken of. I know too many people like that myself."
"Sorry Sirius," said Lily. "I didn't mean…"
"It's okay," said Sirius, gently holding her hand. "I don't expect muggle-borns to completely understand about him. But trust me, it's taboo. Now, let's finish our Butterbeer and head back."
Severus was just on his way back to the castle when he passed the Three Broomsticks. And who should he see through the window but Lily and Sirius, Sirius holding Lily's hand. 'Don't let it bother you Severus,' he told himself, but as he continued on his way back, he could feel his anger seething inside him. Sirius was gonna pay…somehow.