Chapter 25

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw the four teenagers enter the common room. She jumped up and ran over to Alaina, who was looking particularly happy.

"Well?" Lily asked, impatiently. James glared at her and hurried past with Remus and Peter. Lily felt as though her heart was torn out of her chest when she didn't get James' cocky hello. Alaina smiled softly and hugged Lily.

"Sirius is just fine." Alaina said with a grin, and Lily felt her heart slow to a normal pace. "He acted just like his old self as soon as he awoke. He wants me to see him later tonight with James." Lily's headgirl instincts immediately kicked in.

"Lainy, you should not go," Lily whispered, and Alaina instantly looked defiant. She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. "You might get caught, and if all this is about that stupid thing Sirius said, then-," Lily was cut off by an angry Alaina.

"That stupid thing Sirius said?" Alaina snarled, and Lily immediately felt terrible. Alaina was weighing a lot of her happiness on those few sentences Sirius had spoken at the Quidditch pitch. "You know how much that

meant to me, Lily." Lily opened her mouth to reply, but Alaina cut her off once again. "I am going to go sleep, since I figure I will be up most of the night with James and Sirius anyway." Alaina snarled and stomped off to bed without another word.

Lily had now managed to get two of her friends mad at her. Lovely.

Remus made his way over to his girlfriend quite happily who was talking to Brittney. In two weeks, Alyssa had accomplished in making Remus feel happier than what felt like years to him. She was so sweet and attentive, that she actually made Remus feel special, unlike the monster he was on the inside.

Remus had not told Alyssa about his malady. He was afraid that this wonderful girl would leave him, disgusted that she had ever kissed a werewolf. Yet, deep down, he knew she would accept him the way he was. Yet, Remus had already ignored his judgement once by asking her out.

"Hey you," Remus whispered as he slid down next to Alyssa. She kissed his cheek softly and grasped his hand tightly. She was still deep in conversation with Brittney about the match. Alyssa did not say a word to Remus for about fifteen minutes, but with her small hand clenched in his hand, Remus was just fine with that.

Brittney yawned and said good-night to her two friends. Remus was slightly glad to see her go and was rewarded when Alyssa turned to him, a smile on her pretty features.

"Wow, long day, huh?" Alyssa said upbeat. Remus could not help but laugh at her joyous behavior. Only she could be this excited at this hour at night, but then he took that back. He was friends with James and Sirius after all.

"Yeah, tough day actually. We almost lost Sirius there for a minute, huh?" Remus grinned down at her as she wrapped her arms tightly around his center.

"At least it was not you, Remus," Alyssa muttered into his chest. Remus's eyes widened at her comment, and he felt his heart start beating ten times faster than what was normal.

"Hey," Remus said and he tilted her head up tenderly. "I am fine and so is Sirius." Alyssa smiled gently and Remus felt his heart throb particularly painfully. "You are so pretty." Remus added as an afterthought. Alyssa blushed and her beautiful chocolate eyes widened.

"You think so?" She muttered and Remus leaned forward, centimeters from her mouth.

"No, Alyssa, I don't think so." Remus whispered and Alyssa withdrew her face, looking slightly hurt. "I know so." Before Alyssa could even smile, Remus had captured her dark pink lips with his own.

Love was such a strong feeling.

James climbed down the stairs at a quarter after eleven, with the Marauder's Map in his pocket, and the Invisiblity Cloak tucked under his arm. The common room was surprisingly empty, and he made his way towards a chair. He was supposed to meet Alaina and they proceed down to the kitchens to get Sirius food. Hospital Wing food was quite disgusting, and Sirius defiantly hated it the most. James said the password to the Marauder's Map, so that way Alaina could not tell anyone about it.

James quite quickly got lost in his thoughts about the wondrous creature called Lily Evans. She was so beautiful, so smart, and so fiery! James knew that he loved her, and that he always would. He was determined to make Lily love him just as much, and he knew how too. He was going to take advantage of the moments he had alone with Alaina tonight, and get her to tell him how to make Lily fall in love with him.

"Hey James," Alaina muttered as she snuck into the room. James stood up and smiled his trademark smirk.

"You are late, Alaina Riley." She just rolled her eyes and strolled over to him. She nudged him with her elbow.

"Well your little girlfriend practically blocked the door. She didn't want me to get in trouble, so don't get me caught!" Alaina smiled, and James knew she must have noticed the look of absolute joy that had crossed his face at her words of calling Lily his girlfriend.

"Right you are," James said and he threw the Invisiblity Cloak delicately over their shoulders. "We have to hurry down to the kitchens, otherwise, Sirius will be mad that we are late. He would hate to have to spend less time with you." Katrina immediately blushed, which James was quite pleased to see. This showed James that he did not have to worry about her not liking his best friend.

"You know where the kitchens are?" Alaina whispered as they passed through the portrait hole. The Fat Lady threw out quite a few cuss words at being awoken at that hour. James and Alaina stifled giggles as they rushed down the corridors, attempting to get to the kitchens as fast as they could.

Alaina was absolutely pleased with the Marauder's map. "Do you have any idea how advanced this is?" She asked with a smile. "You managed to map out Hogwarts! I bet Dumbledore would not even be able to!" James grinned his pompous grin.

"Of course he wouldn't. I am much more smarter than our dear headmaster," James whispered and he stated this as though it was a fact. Alaina just rolled her eyes at him.

The two students made their way down to the kitchens unnoticed by anyone. Once they reached the portrait of the fruit bowl, Alaina was once again shocked by James' knowledge of the castle. "Peter found this one

accidentally," James explained as he tickled the pear. "Trust Peter to find the place where they keep the food." Alaina let out a soft laugh.

With food packed in their hands, Alaina and James left the kitchens and proceeded down to the Hospital Wing. They reached there just as soon as the clock rang the midnight bell. As they peered inside, James was quite happy to see no one but Sirius, who looked as though he was fast asleep. Alaina made her way over to him and shook him awake gently.

"Sirius?" She whispered tenderly, and Sirius blinked open his eyes. At first he looked around the Hospital Wing disoriented, but once his eyes fell upon the blue-eyed girl, he smiled.

"Did you bring me food?" Sirius asked immediately, and James just laughed. Alaina glowered at him and placed her hands on her hips.

"I come down here in the middle of the night to see you and all you can ask is if I brought you food?" Alaina said in a mock angry voice. Sirius smirked and slowly sat up. James dumped the food on his bed and Sirius promptly started to devour it. "Yuck," Alaina said with a disgusted face. "And I thought Peter was bad." James and Sirius let out loud cackles.

"Maybe you should try the Hospital Wing food sometime, Lainy," Sirius said as he stuffed warm mashed potatoes into his mouth. "Then you can agree that you would eat this food as fast as you possibly could." Alaina rolled her eyes at Sirius. She sat down in a chair next to his bed and promptly adjusted his pillows. James grinned at her, happy that his friend had found a girl who cared for him as much as he did for her.

The three teenagers sat around his bed, chatting away. James quickly brought the subject around to Lily. "Is she ever going to like me?" James moaned and he slumped back in his chair. "I have tried everything!" Alaina just rolled her eyes at him.

"Lily likes you, James," She whispered with a soft smile. James sat up straight, his eyes showing the eagerness that he was feeling. "She like those walks that she has with you when you guys have head duty, and when its just the two of you. Basically, Lily likes you when you aren't being a pompous prat."

"I am not a pompous prat, am I?" James said as he looked towards Alaina. She gave him a look that clearly said 'Yes, yes you are." James looked towards Sirius who was looking pointly at the ceiling, ignoring James' protests.

It looked like James would have a lot to work on.