Disclaimer: I'm not even kidding, do I really have to keep doing this?

A/N: Sorry that this took so long to publish, it actually started out as a filler chapter. But yeah, its not really anymore. Oh well.

Sirius Black couldn't sleep. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was barely six on a Sunday morning. He had been out with Remus for most of the night, so he hadn't even been in bed for more than a few hours! Well, is Sirius's mind, if he couldn't sleep, then someone else shouldn't be allowed to sleep either. He was going to James's.
Alice and Frank had been staying in Dumbledore's quarters all day. The three of them had agreed that Alice and Frank could not be seen; at the very least not until the next Order meeting. Dumbledore said that as soon as everyone was in bed, they were welcome to roam the castle and perhaps find better sleeping quarters. Alice couldn't wait; she was not exactly a fan of all the portraits in Dumbledore's office. Someone was staring at her all the time. It was more than a tad bit annoying. She looked at a large clock for the thirtieth time that morning. Only several more hours to go.
Sirius apparated into James's bedroom, intent on waking his best friend up by falling on him. He was surprised to land with a bounce on an empty bed. Surprise turned into confusion, which turned into smugness as Sirius wondered whose bed James was sleeping in. But that turned into disappointment when he heard the sound of James snoring coming from the sitting room. James had simply fallen asleep on his couch.

Suddenly, Sirius had a very evil and Sirius-like thought. All he would need is some good old-fashioned ice and perhaps some whipped cream. Or maybe a glass of warm water? What about the warm water, the ice, and the whipped cream?

Grinning mischievously, Sirius tiptoed past the couch. Then he stopped and retraced his steps until he was in front of the couch again. Sure enough, James was on the couch, but he was not alone.

Lily was lying almost on top of James, her head was resting on his chest, and her arms here around his middle. James had his arms around Lily protectively, and he seemed to be inhaling the scent of her long red hair. Knowing the exact status of Lily and James's relationship, Sirius couldn't help but smirk. This was even better than anything Sirius could do to James with whipped cream.

When James eyes opened that morning, he realized one thing: he was not where he was supposed to be. Normally, he woke up lying down in his bed that always smelled like fresh linen. But today, today was different.

Today, he was sitting on his couch, and some other scent (orchids, maybe?) was filling his head. He looked down and saw a mass of red hair lying on his chest. He laughed, Lily smelled like orchids? Weird.

He laid there for the awhile, just enjoying the feel of orchid- smelling Lily lying on him. They fit together, he and Lily. Like lost puzzles pieces or something. It just felt right.

He wanted to stay like this forever, but James knew that Lily wouldn't want to find herself on top of him when she woke up. So quietly, he tried to slip off the couch without disturbing Lily.

He walked into the kitchen and straight to the cupboard to look for some food.

"Did you sleep well?"

James turned and saw Sirius leaning against the counter, with a mug of coffee in his hand. Sirius must have seen him and Lily together. "Its not what it looked like," James explained, "Lily and I are just friends." Sirius raised an eyebrow, "Oh? We're friends too, mate. Say, it's been quite a while since we've fallen asleep in each other's arms. And you and Lily have done that how many times in the last month? Three? Four?"

"Lily and I are just friends!" James objected, "Its just…well…" James was at a loss for words. "Let me guess," Sirius mocked, "The lines between friendship and more get blurred with you and Lily?"

"They do!" James cried, "You might not understand." Sirius sat down and leaned back in his chair, "Try me." James thought for a moment before talking, "Its like this, we started out as friends, but the more we got to know each other, the more we found ourselves together. Like, fate just keeps sticking us together, in hopes that we'll stay that way. I don't know how to explain it, we're friends, but-"

"You should be more?" Sirius interjected, "I know exactly how you feel. Remember Charity Burbage from Hogwarts?" James smiled, "You mean that Hufflepuff that hated your guts? Yeah, I remember her."

Sirius nodded, "Sometimes, we would be really mean to each other, but every once in a while, we would talk, and treat each other like humans. And that was really special to me. So special, in fact, that when I saw her a few weeks ago, I asked her if she wanted to have a butterbeer with me, you know, simply to catch up."

James nodded, encouraging Sirius to continue, "And butterbeer turned into dinner, dinner turned into a second date, and then a third, and so on. And now when I think back on those times in Hogwarts, when I had all the chances in the world to be as happy as I am now, and yet I didn't. So was it fate that I saw her that day and asked her for butterbeer? Was it fate that she said yes? I think some part of us knew that we were meant to be more than enemies, more than friends."

"Wow, Sirius," James said quietly, "I think that was the deepest thing I have ever heard you say. Who is this girl turn my best mate into sensitive, insightful, caring human being? Let's meet her!" Sirius grinned, "I'll bring her round for dinner tonight."

Lily stirred in the front room, and the two became quiet. "I better go before she wakes up," Sirius said, "I'll bet that you two have all sorts of friendship lines to blur today." James opened his mouth to protest, but Sirius was already gone. James sighed and turned to the stove, deciding make an attempt at making pancakes.

Alice was lying on the floor, eagle-spread when Frank appeared over her. "You," he said, seriously, "and I need to talk." Alice sat up, "What about?"

"Our future."

"What is there to discuss about our futures?"

"The fact that you refer to it as two separate futures instead of sharing one future together."

Alice swallowed hard and looked at the ground. Frank kept talking, "Alice, do you know what you want? Who you want? I know that you love me, but I want to hear you say it. I want to know if you'll really be happy with me, if I'm the one you want to spend your life with. I want you to tell me. I want you to be able to tell me what I want to hear, I want you to leave him and be with me; only me. That's what I want. But what do you want, Alice?"

Her eyes were still studying the pattern of the carpet as she whispered, "What I want? I want to fall asleep next to the person I love each night, and see their face as I wake up each morning. I want to tell him that I love him, and not worry about the commitments that those words mean. I want to grow old with him. I want to skip the extravagant wedding and have a family, with lots of children. And for them, I want the Dark Lord to never be more than a fairy tale." Alice looked up from the carpet, and there were tears in her eyes, "I want to be able to tell you every single thing you ever wanted to hear, and hear your voice telling me that you love me on my last dying day. That's what I want."

For a moment they sat in silence as Frank noted the one thing that she didn't say. "You don't want to leave him," he stated matter-of-factly. Alice shook her head, "No," tears were streaming down her face now, "I don't want to hurt him."

She turned her head to face Frank's, "Why do you want so much?" He pulled her into a hug, "I don't want a lot from you, I just want more than this."

"I'm having people over for dinner tonight," James said conversationally over breakfast that morning. "Oh?" Lily said, "Where are you ordering the food from?"

"Actually," James hesitated, "I was sort of planning on making dinner myself, you know, like cooking." Lily took a sip of orange juice and choked when he said this. James rushed over and was slapping her on the back, "Breathe, Lily, breathe!"

After a few minutes the coughing subsided and Lily sputtered, "Cooking! Are you trying to kill these people, James? Who are you having for dinner? Voldemort and his Death Eaters? You can't cook if your life depended on it."

"I made these pancakes," James pointed out. "No," Lily corrected him, "I made these pancakes, your sorry excuse for pancakes are in the rubbish bin." James nodded, "Too true." Then after a minute he grinned and said, "You realize that when I say I'm cooking dinner, I mean you are, right?"

"Yes," Lily answered, massaging her temples, "That did dawn on me." James smile grew even wider. "Thank you, Lily," he said sincerely. Lily merely nodded, though James could swear he saw a small smile playing at her lips.

That night, as soon as the prefects stopped patrolling, Alice and Frank left Dumbledore's office. "You search the bottom three floors and the dungeon, I'll look on the others," Alice told Frank, "Send me a Patronus if you find something." Frank nodded, kissed her quickly on lips, and was gone.

Alice began wandering through the old hallways of the school, poking into nooks and crannies. She remembered once when she and James first started going out in seventh year, he had shown her a map that he and his friends had made. She remembered laughing at him and calling it "ridiculous" and a "useless waste of time and energy." It didn't seem so ridiculous or useless now.

She was in a corridor on the fifth floor, wishing for a place for her and Frank to stay, when she noticed a door that she didn't remember seeing before. Cautiously, she opened it and smiled. Inside, there was a small apartment, exactly like what she was looking for.

Sirius arrived promptly at six o'clock with Charity Burbage, a young witch with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes, a serious contrast to Sirius's darker features.

She had one of those laughs that one can't help but smile at the sound of, and James thought that there were very few times when Sirius had smiled wider or looked happier than when in Charity's presence. "She's a great girl, mate." James said, clapping Sirius on the back while Lily and Charity were in the kitchen. "Yeah," Sirius grinned, "Just the sort of girl my mum would hate." James laughed.

It turned out though, that Sirius wasn't joking. Walburga Black would have probably had to kill someone if she knew that even her traitor son was associating with a witch like Charity. Charity came from the second largest blood-traitor family in Britain (next to the Weasleys). Her favorite class at Hogwarts had been Muggle Studies, and she worked in the Department for Protection of Muggles at the Ministry. She scorned the idea of "pure" blood and the ideas that came with it. To put it simply, she was against everything the Black family stood for.

And Sirius loved her for it. James could see it in everything Sirius did and said towards Charity. James was happy that his best friend had finally found someone.

As they were doing dishes after dinner that night, Charity turned to Lily and said conversationally, "So, how long have you and James been together?" Lily dropped her wand and a dish shattered. After mumbling a quick spell, the dish was back on the counter. "Oh, well, we're, you see, we're just friends," Lily stammered. "Oh, my, yes, of course," Charity mumbled, clearly embarrassed, and awkward silence ensued until James and Sirius stumbled into the room holding firewhiskey and singing rather badly.
A/N: Was it okay? Its definitely not my favorite chapter. What do you think? I want to hear what everyone thinks about this chappie, so drop me a review. I decided to add Sirius having a girlfriend into this story, at the suggestion of Nymphie07. Some of you may recognize Charity Burbage from DH. I don't know why, but she seems like the type to have a thing with Sirius. They would be cute together. Maybe I'll write a fic about them once I finish this one.

Anyway, sorry for the mini- rant. review! (now)