I was sitting on James' bed. I liked it there. I felt safe; daydreaming as the late afternoon sunlight gently caressed my weary frame.

However, whatever rare moment of tranquility I was enjoying was broken as Sirius entered the dormitory and slammed the door behind him in a huff.

I snapped out of my reverie, faintly aware of a pink tinge colouring my cheeks as the subject of my daydream threw himself onto the bed I was currently occupying.

"Moony."

I ignored him, fixing my gaze somewhere outside the window, still letting in copious amounts of sunlight. I suddenly realized I was uncomfortably clammy. I was sure Sirius would notice the embarrassment etched into my face.

"Moony."

I stared resolutely out the window, pretending to be much more interested than I was in a group of girls sitting by the lake, chatting animatedly.

"Moony," Sirius positively moaned, hitting a tone that I could no longer ignore successfully, preoccupied as I was fighting the urge to snog him senseless. Not that I would ever act on that particular urge. Or even use those words outside of my own head.

I looked over at him, and my stomach plummeted. His hair gleamed in the sunlight. His eyes sparkled and his mouth grinned.

Effortlessly handsome.

Realising that my eyes had possibly glazed over, I stumbled over my words. "Padfoot. You're… You're laying on my book."

A slight frown line creased Sirius's forehead and his grin disappeared. "You're worrying about books at a time like this?" Nevertheless, he rummaged under his back and pulled out a now crumpled copy of 1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi.

"At a time like what, exactly?"

Sirius paused. "I have a problem," he finally admitted.

"The least noble of all the Blacks has a problem? And he comes to me? I'm honoured," I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Moony, I'm being serious. More so than usual. I think… I think I'm irresistible," he said.

I sighed. I knew it was something like this. It always is. Sirius' problems usually involve having so many girls that he couldn't possibly handle them all. Or hat hair.

He raised his voice over my disbelief, and continued as if uninterrupted. "I think Evans loves me."

"She does not."

"She does! If you could've seen the way she was looking at me in Hogsmeade. She was jealous of the girl I was with. I could see it in her eyes."

"What you probably saw was disgust. She doesn't like you. Quite the opposite, in fact."

"Sure, she doesn't, Moony. No one can resist Sirius Black."

He was right, there. I watched as he half sat up and flashed me a smile.

"I didn't see you in Hogsmeade, Moony. Hiding up here with all your friends, were you?"

I fought my gaze away from his mouth, and looked into his eyes, which were watching me surprisingly fiercely.

"Doing some extra work. Full moon's in a couple days, if you were lucky enough to forget."

A glint of fear flashed in his eyes. "No, I didn't mean that at all. It's just… It'd be good to see you out there, you know, socializing for once in your life. You can't live up here forever. School isn't everything." He smiled again.

And with that – one of the most sentimental moments I had ever experienced with Sirius Black – he punched me in the arm, in what I can only hope was a mark of friendship.

Surprised, the wolf in me, beginning to stir with the full moon approaching, took it as a sign of aggression and leapt onto Sirius, startling both of us.

Sirius quickly took it in his stride and caught me, stopping me from hurting myself more than him, and before I knew it, I was thrown against the bed and Sirius' legs were either side of my waist.

Before I could get used to this unsuspected, but not in the least bit unpleasant turn of events, James threw open the dormitory door, evidently raging. He took not the least notice of us, and set about kicking Peter's trunk, each word emphasised with a kick. "Fucking… Lily… Evans."

Sirius was off me in a second, rushing to soothe James. I scrambled off James' bed, and busied myself in collecting the textbooks I needed for the next day, trying hard to ignore the tender notes in Sirius' voice and the despair in James's.

I felt incredibly dirty. Being in love with my best friend. My male best friend, no less. The utter hopelessness of the situation seemed to infiltrate my mind, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. Dropping my books, I rushed to the bathroom, to hide my shame, my disgust, my anger, slamming the door shut behind me.

"What's his problem?" asked James.

"His time of the month, I guess," said Sirius, but his eyes lingered on the bathroom door a little too long.