Lily slapped her hand over her mouth at the sharp inhale she gave, but the 3 men who had beaten her to the room were already looking at her in surprise and confusion.
The men appeared to all be about her age, and she was suddenly overwhelmingly aware of the fact that she knew none of them. This was far more than one person to lie to, and the trio very clearly were thinking along the same line.
A rather ragged looking brunet finally broke the newborn tension that filled the already solemn room. "Who is this?"
The nurse gaped at him for a moment before answering. "This is the fiancee."
Another man, this one with outrageously disheveled black hair and rectangular spectacles, gaped at her. "What fiancee? Sirius isn't engaged." He tugged at the tips of his hair, and he let out a breathy laugh. Lily rather liked his laugh. It was loud and genuine, even in his distressed state. Her momentary fondness toward this new man vanished as soon as he uttered his next sentence. "Besides, this girl isn't his type. He never has relationships longer than a month, but she would be nothing more than one of his one night stands."
"James." The last person in the room chided him gently. This man looked hardly more than a boy, with his soft stature and watery eyes. "You haven't talked to Sirius in months. You wouldn't know if he settled down with a girl. You wouldn't even know what type of girl he wants to settle down with." The man looked at her with a slight smile. "I apologize, it's been awhile since we've properly spoken to Sirius. We had a bit of a row a while back, and we haven't concluded it yet. What's your name?"
"Lily. I'm Lily Evans. Who are you?"
The brunet spoke up again, and she couldn't shake the feeling that he could see right through her. "Remus Lupin. We are Sirius' best ma- brothers, though I can't say we've done a great job at it lately. Peter is the nice one over there, and James is the prat. It really is nice to meet you."
The nurse gave a relieved smile. "Oh, thank goodness. I thought for a moment that I had utterly mucked this all up. I probably would have lost my job if I had brought back somebody with no connection to Mr. Black." Lily gave a rigid laugh. Well, this most certainly sealed the deal. She could not tell these boys who she was until after they left the hospital. The nurse left the room, and Lily was finally able to turn to her James Dean. Sirius. What a perfect name for a perfect boy. She walked slowly over to his bedside and ran her fingers gently through his dark hair. She had longed to do so for months, and it was every bit as soft as she had imagined. She memorized the plains of his face, up close for the first time.
Remus cleared his throat, but she cut him off before he could ask her any questions.
"What's the matter with him? When will he wake up?" She would have to tell them about the slight misunderstanding before Sirius could tell them himself. Or maybe just run away before they could figure it out themselves.
"Whatever those wankers shoved at him has some curse on it. Nobody has figured out what it was, or how to break it. He's just… sleeping." Remus looked stricken by grief for just a moment, but cleared his face when he saw the mirrored looks on his friends. Lily sat next to the bed, looking at Sirius with a face hopefully full of love and pain. As a girl who had never been in love before, she had no clue how to morph her face into something with so much feeling. She silently prayed that she looked lovestruck rather than constipated or in pain.
"So how did you meet Sirius?" James' words were clipped, and his eyes were narrowed beneath his frames.
Lily's mind was racing, and she was proud of her casual reply. "We met at the Ministry of Magic. We went through the Floo at about the same, and our eyes met as we exited. It was love at first sight." James snorted, and she continued quickly. "Well, more like lust. The love came later, when he asked me out again after we went at it. I know that the engagement was rather fast, but we figured there was no point in waiting. Sirius tends to act based on feeling, as I'm sure you know." Lily knew that it was a gamble to make such an assumption, but a flicker of longing brightened James' eyes.
"Yeah, he does. It's always been one of his best qualities. And his worst, at times." A heavy silence settled over the three men. Lily sat uncomfortably for as long as she could before she desperately grasped blindly at something to break the deafening quiet.
"He never really mentioned you. What did you argue about?" James' face shut down and the walls flew back up, and Lily shrank back ever so slightly. Much to her relief, Peter seemed to see her fear and leapt to her rescue.
"He acted based on feeling. As great as that can be, he really messed up this time. He wouldn't apologize, so we wouldn't forgive him. That's all."
"So you were close?"
Remus gave a humorless laugh. "Oh, yes. We have been best friends forever. We told the nurse we were his brothers, so don't tell her otherwise. No need to get anybody in trouble, yeah? Besides, it's basically true. We are the closest thing to family Sirius has." Remus paused, and gave her a look that seemed almost grateful. "Well, we were until now. Thank you for keeping an eye on him while we couldn't. It'll be nice to have somebody else to keep him under control, once he wakes up." Another hush fell as they all picked up on the unmentioned undertone: if he wakes up.
