Change of Heart

By Tempest Break

Disclaimer: For the last time, I don't own Harry Potter! Gosh!!!

Summary: James and Lily are finally together, but does Lily actually like James, or is she just going out with him for his sake? James vows to make her love him like he loves her, but he'll have to work hard to make Lily have a change of heart.

- - - - - - - - -

Chapter Twenty-Four: Beginnings

Remus closed the dormitory door behind himself as he entered, relishing the forcefulness of the sound; it seemed to mark the beginning of a revelation. It was almost as though he was closing the door on his melancholy and – hopefully – on Peter's, as well. "Peter, what is going on with you lately?" he asked straightforwardly, completely unlike himself.

The mousy boy – rather than jump, as Remus had expected him to – turned towards his friend. Remus nearly took a step back upon seeing the icy expression on Peter's face.

"What's going on with me, lately, Remus?" he repeated tightly. "You don't know? You – with your uncanny ability to tell whatever is the matter with James or Sirius – you can't read poor little Peter? Or do you just not care enough to contemplate me?"

Remus blinked calmly back at Peter, though his mind raced with confusion and suspicion. "I have ideas of what it is, yes," he said carefully, "but I want to know from you exactly what is the matter."

Peter ignored the question. "Has it really taken you this long to realize something was wrong? Has it really?" he asked through gritted teeth, clenching and unclenching his fist.

Remus's eyes swept over Peter's body language, and immediately Remus softened his to an unthreatening one. "Of course not, Peter," he answered coolly. "I first noticed it a long while ago, when Sirius first started going out with Colleen, and, as I say, I've had my suspicions of what it is for a while. I want to know if I was right."

"I'm an experiment to you, am I? Nothing more than a – a lab-rat, is that right, Remus?"

"I want to help you, Peter," Remus answered strongly, steadily.

Peter let out a bark of cold laughter that made Remus's hopes for a solution plummet. "Help me?" he echoed scathingly. "I don't need your help. Not yours or James's or Sirius's. I have friends other than you."

Remus's blood went cold with fear. "What friends, Peter? Who are they?"

Peter only smirked at Remus. "See you around, Moony," he said, crossing the room. He opened the door and slammed it shut before Remus could do anything. This time, the sound chilled Remus to the bone.

- - - - -

"Wake up," ordered a voice, cutting through the haze of Sirius's mind. "Wake up, you great horny lump, and get off me. I can barely breathe."

Sirius blinked his bleary eyes open and met the sight of Colleen's half-amused, half-smothered expression. "Sorry," Sirius apologized as he shifted, and Colleen wriggled out from under him. She drew her robes around her, and Sirius did the same.

"What time do you reckon it is?" Sirius finally asked.

Colleen shrugged. "Four or five in the morning," she said. "Seeing as no one's up and about down here."

A door slammed somewhere, and they heard footsteps. "Spoke too soon, I guess," Colleen muttered.

Peter appeared at the foot of the boys' stairs, and he took a few steps into the common room before noticing Sirius and Colleen. He stopped in his tracks and stared at them.

"How you doin', Pete?" Sirius asked amiably. Colleen waved.

Peter didn't respond – he only turned, muttering, away from them and left the common room through the portrait hall.

"Well," said Colleen. "That was rude!"

- - - - -

That night was the longest in a while that James lasted without something eventful happening. At four-thirty, though, that peace was shattered by a sound James had not heard for a while: Lily's screaming.

The shrieks jerked James out of his slumber. He sat bolt upright in bed as a wave of instincts hit him. The first, that he must protect Lily. The second (one that had been acquired recently), that he must not go in her bedroom under any circumstances, as Lily would surely tear off some part of his anatomy. Lastly, the knowledge that they were going out now, and Lily probably – probably – wouldn't kill him if he went in emerged.

James exploded from his bed, hurtled through the adjoining bathroom, yanked open the door to Lily's room, and burst inside, where he beheld Lily. Dark-red hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat, but she was shivering and writhing on the bed, her arms clasped around her chest. Her unintelligible shrieks erupted from her lips intermittently, and tears streamed down her face.

After a brief moment of taking the whole scene in, James rushed to Lily's bed and grabbed her by the shoulders. At this she screamed even more loudly than before and tried desperately to break free from him.

"Lily, Lily!" shouted James above the screaming. "It's me. It's James. Wake up!" He shook her shoulders a little.

Suddenly Lily's eyes flew open. She stared at James in astonishment for a brief moment, and then collapsed into a sobbing heap in his arms. "Oh, God, James," she cried. "I'm so glad it was only a dream."

"Shh, shh," soothed James, stroking her head in bewilderment. "It's okay. Whatever happened, it's okay."

They sat there for a while, James running his fingers through Lily's matted red hair and Lily crying into James's chest. When the sobbing hiccups had finally gone away, and Lily's hair was smooth as silk from James's combing it, Lily looked up from her boyfriend's chest and said, "I want to t-tell you about it."

James couldn't think of anything to say, so he only nodded.

Lily was silent for a few minutes – so long that James worried she had decided not to tell him. Then she said abruptly, "My dreams are about V-Voldemort."

James had guessed that. Several students at Hogwarts had had dreams about the Dark Lord since his rise to power. Almost all of the Muggle-born witches and wizards were plagued with nightmares of Death Eaters. He pulled Lily closer.

"For a long time, I've had n-nightmares about h-him," she continued. "It started out that he was after m-me, but I'd always wake up before he k-killed me. Then the dreams started to be about his k-killing my f-family. My mum or my dad or my s-s-sister. Those were the d-dreams that you heard me having at the b-beginning of the year."

"I'm so sorry, Lily," murmured James. "They're just dreams."

She went on as if she hadn't heard him. "But t-tonight's was e-even worse," she said. "Because after killing my whole f-family, he came and he killed… he killed…"

"Who'd he kill, Lily?"

"James," sobbed Lily, "he killed you."

- - - - -

As Sirius pulled his pants back on, he suddenly realized something. "Colleen," he said to her. "I kind of forgot the – I was too caught up in the whole – thing – that I forgot – "

"What?" Colleen asked.

Sirius tried to give her meaningful looks so she would understand, but she only stared at him blankly. "I forgot the, you know… Contraceptive Charm."

Colleen paled briefly before saying, "It's okay. I'll just do the little testy charm thing, and we'll see if I'm preggers right quick." She whipped out her wand and muttered something. Then she stuck the tip of her wand into her mouth and sat down on the couch with the rest of her wand hanging out of her mouth.

Sirius stared at her. "What the hell are you doing?"

Colleen glared at him but did not answer. After a minute she withdrew the wand from her mouth and examined it. "Sirius…" she murmured, holding out the tip of her wand, which had turned a dark shade of green. "I'm pregnant."

Sirius nearly fell over. "Y-you're pregnant?!" he exclaimed.

Colleen held his gaze for a moment before bursting into laughter. "No!" she laughed. "I just wanted to see your face. You obviously don't know how to read these wand tests. Green means no; blue means yes."

He let out a sigh of relief. "I can't believe you would do something like that to me," he muttered.

"Aw, poow wittle Daddy," joked Colleen, getting up from the couch and giving him a hug. "It was all in good fun."

"You're a horrible, horrible person," said Sirius. Colleen kissed him. "I hate you," he said. And he kissed her back.

- - - - - - - - -

Tempest: Well, guys. It's been forever and a day since I last updated, and I'm really sorry about it. School is back in session and all… This year is way harder than all the others, and I have a 300-pound toddler for my AP European history teacher who assigns hours and hours of homework and then whines about how frustrated he gets when the class doesn't finish it. Fortunately, Christmas break is coming up, and I know how everything is going to go for this story. Pretty much. Plus I really want to finish this one so I can work on my Fred/Hermione/George fanfic… Now to answer some reviews.

Ohepelss Oramtnci: Yes, "eventful" is an all-encompassing word… Sammy Solo: Daring, indeed. I'm glad you thought it was true to the characters, though. Luna-Lovegood200: Another Selena crier! I'm so sorry to put you guys through all that stuff. Glakistry: No way do I friggen see you all the time! DracozFallenAngel: Thanks for the boundary comment. We like to keep things PG-13 in this household. Cherry: Yeah, "bloodless fool" was just my using the thesaurus tool on Word because I couldn't think of anything. And I'm a retard. StarRuby: Awesome. TV things like that are hilarious. DOJ: Thanks! I'm glad you like Colleen. She's fun to write. And the "giggly, flirty, dumb" line. I actually said that. It was intense. Sumwhere-over-the-rainbow: I don't know if anything like that's gonna happen with Lily and James yet. I haven't really planned on it, but I mean, they do have Harry, and there's only one way for that to happen… No, this hadn't happened between Colleen and Sirius before. Yes, they did what you think they did. Unless you thought they played Connect Four or something. I am fifteen going on sixteen! Lalala. And I'll try to read yours, but don't be offended if I can't get around to it. I'm extremely forgetful. ; Stepha-Lah, sum1strange, JamesGurl19, spotted kitten, vamperfly, Silvercrystal77, and SiriusJamesRemus'sgirl: Thanks, you guys, for liking Sirius, Colleen, or both of them together.

And to strawberryshortcake23, VictoriaM2006, Sheyla Potter, wounded-angel, ITS ME, ashes infinity, trashcan522, eric, Ruth3, Morgan Golding, Shima and Tempis, Jessi xxx, little-angel123452000, febgirl, MaD-4-u, Kyo-grli91, Lily Natalia Evans, Slytherin's Cliffy Queen, misakichi1, James And Lily 4eva, jsas, milky way bar, and little pink sock: Thank you all for reading and reviewing this story. I hope you all didn't completely lose hope for another update and that some of you come back and review this chappie.

8-18-07: This chapter has been revamped! Hope you enjoy it more than before.