When Sirius entered the room James was laying on his bed. Sirius rolled his eyes and chucked James's bag at him. James, managing to catch it, placed it at the bottom of his bed and went back to laying down. Sirius sighed but jumped on to his own bed that was opposite James's.

"If anyone asks," Sirius said, "I came in here told you that you are very mean for yelling at Lily and that you should dump Jenny, okay?"

James didn't move "Whatever."

"Great," Sirius said stretching in his bed. There was a few minutes of silence when James finally gave in, "I didn't mean to yell..."

Sirius rolled over on his side and propped himself up on his elbow, "Don't worry about it."

"Shouldn't you be telling me I should apologise to her or something?" James asked.

Sirius loosed his tie a bit, "It's not like she's never yelled at you is it."

"Yeah, but whenever she yelled at me, I deserved it. She was just trying to change the subject." James rolled over to as he realized what Sirius was trying to do.

"She's still down stairs if you want to talk to her."

James squeezed his eyes shut tightly, "Do I have to?"

"Not sure. If you want her still."

James opened his eyes and rubbed his face with his hands, "I've done this all wrong, haven't I?"

"Hm?"

"Why did I date someone? Jenny of all people. Lily is actually starting to maybe like me. And I go and ruin it by letting her snog me every chance she gets..."

Sirius paused and watched his friend, "Bet you didn't mind that part though?"

James grinned for a second and then turned to Sirius, "Okay, Pads?"

"Prongs?" Sirius said, over the top on sincerity. James ignored him.

"How do you dump girls?"

"Oh!" Sirius said and sat up straight. James watched him, "Okay, you have to let them down gently. None of the 'it's not you, it's me!" or 'you're too good for me' crap though. Just say it's not working out."

"It's not working out..." James repeated and then he sat up too, "Then what?"

"Okay, so you be you, and I'll be Jenny!" Sirius said enthusiastically. He ducked his head and then looked up at James. He was fluttering his eyelashes, his lips were pouting and he swished his hair over his shoulder. James watched in horror.

"Hello Jamesie pie-"

"Sirius!" James interrupted, "Don't ever put that look on your face again!"

Sirius laughed and encouraged him, "Okay, what would you say?"

"Um..." James raised an eyebrow, "Jenny..? Uh. It's not working out..."

Sirius looked shocked and continued acting as Jenny, "Whatever do you mean?"

James stood up, "You know what, forget it, it isn't working. I'll just tell her myself."

"Now?" Sirius asked as his friend walked to the door.

"Yeah. Now." He gulped and reached out for the handle.

"Apologise to Lily first!"

"Okay, okay," James muttered and walked out, leaving Sirius perched on his bed, still pouting.

James slowly walked down the stairs. He stopped a third year on the way and asked him if he would check that Jenny wasn't around, and that Lily was. James knew the third year was called Daniel and he liked James because of his Quidditch skills so it wasn't a surprise Daniel was quick to agree. After three long minutes of waiting in the slightly enclosed staircase, the third year finally came back.

"Lily's down there with her friends and Remus, but I didn't see Jenny," He panted. James smiled and thanked him, then went down stairs. Remus was the first to see him and he looked surprised.

James pointed to Lily, and then back to himself but Remus however didn't understand what he was trying to say. James sighed and motioned for himself, Becky and Millie to leave.

"Oh!" Remus said out loud.

"Huh?" Millie asked. Remus just laughed and said, "Erm, nothing. Hey, Millie, do you remember that book I was telling you about?"

Millie looked really confused for a second but then noticed Remus was doing a strange head movement. She followed his eyes and saw James who was looking panicked. She caught on.

"Oh, yeah! What about it?"

"I finally found it want to go up stairs and look at it?"

Millie briskly stood up and nodded, as she caught Becky's eye she motioned with her hand towards James. Becky seeing this nodded, "I need to go check on Basil," She said to Lily who looked surprised.

"Oh, do you want me to-"

"NO!" Becky said hastily and Lily looked a little hurt.

"Oh..."

"No no, I just mean it'll only take a sec and anyway she might get spooked... or something." Becky said slowly backing away. As Remus passed James, Millie following, he whispered a brief, "Good luck mate."

Lily watched Becky walk slowly out of the Portrait Hole and then looked back to her books she'd got out of her lap. The fire was flickering out of the corner of her eye, glowing orange onto the pages of Advanced Potion Making. She sighed and grabbed the book, her parchment, quill and ink and stood up, dropping them into her satchel.

She froze and looked up. She had turned to get her bag and now in front of her, James stood nervously in the archway that led to the stairs.

"Lily?" He asked and walked towards her. She half-smiled at him.

"Don't worry about earlier."

"I know I was a complete-" He started and then realised what she had said. She'd just brushed it aside.

"What?" She asked.

James mentally shook his head, "Sorry – for snapping at you and... stuff."

Lily nodded, "Don't worry." She replied curtly and edged around the sofa to go to the girls dormitories.

"Wait, I wanted to tell you something else-" James rambled quickly.

"What?" She repeated.

"Um, well..." He said and closed the gap between them slowly, "I want to end it. With Jenny."

Lily's stomach fizzed and whirled for some unknown reason. Her mouth fell open slightly which made James chuckle. He automatically lifted a hand and brushed her cheek. She was focusing on not going red and stopping herself from kissing him right there.

"Careful," He said, smiling and looking at her lips. He gently pushed her mouth shut, "You'll catch a fly like that.

Lily swallowed and her voice came out no more than a whisper, "Why do you keep doing this?"

"What?" He mirrored her. His hand stayed on her cheek and Lily couldn't help concentrating on how soft it felt.

"You keep... changing your mind about me. It's been a few months and you're ignoring me on and off."

"You told me to leave you alone," He said and looked into her eyes. She looked down and James's hand moved towards her neck, his fingers entwined with her hair.

"James, you can't do this," Lily said and moved his hand with hers, "You can't string me along like this. It's unfair to me. And to Jenny."

"Lily, I'm not-"

"James, I really can't do this with you. Thank you for apologizing but if you don't mind i think i'll be going to bed now." Lily closed her book and looked at James who nodded, "eh, okay.. Night Lily.."

Lily stood up and walked to the dorm, she didn't even glance back at him, just continued walking up. As she got in to her room she began to feel her eyes well up, breathing in deeply she laid down trying not to think about James Potter.

Remus had led Millie up to his and the rest of the Marauders dorms. "I'd just like to say Peters side is the messiest.

"Millie just laughed. "I'm sure it is.." Millie opened the door and peeked in, Sirius looked up from his bed and then rolled his eyes, "hey Johnston."

Remus pushed lightly on the door so it opened wider and walked in, "you did a good job, he went right down."

"You mean none of you even had faith in me?" Sirius said mock hurt.

"Pretty much, yeah." Millie replied, Remus chuckled while Sirius scowled.

"You sure know how to pick them Remus" Sirius said jumping up making his way to the door, ignoring the 'Whats' from both Millie and Remus, "where did Becky go?"

"Owlery" Remus said, a pink tinge to his cheeks. Sirius nodded and closed the door behind him. "Sorry, i don't know what goes on with him half the time."

"oh it's.. aha, don't worry." Millie felt like she could just die. Why did Sirius have to say that...

Sirius trudged down the stairs, admittedly a little sourly. He wondered how it was so easy for Remus to just have a good girl like without having to do anything while Sirius himself had gone through tonnes of girls, never satisfied and now the one he liked was just being distant. He got to the Common Room and saw James leaning against the sofa.

"How'd it go?" He asked and James snapped his head up, surprised. His features went back to normal and he shrugged.

"Okay. Ish."

"What happened?" Sirius asked and walked over to him. James shrugged again and Sirius said, "Look Prongs, I'm on my way to go find Becky, so just tell me."

"Nothing bad," James said, "Well, a little bad."

"Prongs," Sirius said squarely and stood directly in front of him, "I'm not a mind reader, nor do I pretend to be one. What happened?"

"I told her I was sorry and she accepted it," James recounted, "Then when I told her about Jenny, she got all... all squirmy. And she just walked away."

"Uh... Well, James, I can't really say anything about that..." He said hopelessly. James looked up, rolled his eyes and made his way to the stairs for the second time that night. Sirius called back, "I wouldn't! Remus has finally got a girl up there," He laughed.

"But- Oh, fine," He sighed and sat back down on the couch, "How long will you be?"

"Well, I'd prefer to be hours."

"Why?" James questioned. Sirius grinned mischievously.

"Well, you're on your way to getting Lily and Remus has basically got Millie already... I think I may be ready to settle down."

James shook his head in disbelief, grinning, "Never thought I'd hear that. Okay, good luck."

Sirius waggled his eyebrows and almost bounded out of the common room.

Becky was still trudging her way up to the Owlery, going deliberately slow. She had no real reason to go there and was a little bummed that Millie had just gone off with Remus like that. As she was walking, she was imagining what would happen if her life turned into a movie moment and Millie turned against her for a boy. They'd totally make it up in the end.

She walked up the narrow stone stairs, hand trailing on the banister. The familiar sound of hoots, rustling wings and things being knocked over got louder as she ascended and she smiled to herself. As soon as she walked through the arched doorway, there was a loud chirping and Basil flew to her, landing on Becky's shoulder.

"Hey," She said absent-mindedly and stroked his soft head. He nudged her hand in affection with his beak and then flew back to the perch he usually took. Becky walked towards the window and leant against the wall, looking out onto the grounds. She figured she'd give them five minutes before slowly walking back again.

Without any method of telling the time, she started to get bored as seconds dragged by. To entertain herself, she started day dreaming about food which led to the kitchens which led to Sirius, sitting in the kitchen, arguing with her.

Sirius got out of the Common Room when he heard the Fat Lady say, "You know, you really shouldn't be out at this time..." But he ignored her and continued. He shoved his hands in his pocket and immediately grabbed the invisibility cloak. Grinning about the fact he forgot to give it back to James, Sirius pulled it out and threw it over himself.

He walked around the school easily for after hours. At one point he thought he heard Mrs Norris, Filtch's cat, but it was just a younger Ravenclaw's, as she was scrambling after it. Resisting the urge to scare her, Sirius made his way to the Owlery quickly.

Becky had completely given up on waiting, if Lily and James hadn't done the kiss and make up thing it wasn't her problem. She was still walking at a slow speed though. While walking down she was really starting to notice how dark it had gotten.

"It must be past curfew" she mumbled and because of this Becky began to stick close to the shadows. Of course this didn't go quite to plan once her imagination got in the way. After being freaked out by one of the ghost she decided that it would just be best to walk fast, think later.

It obviously didn't work as without meaning to Becky banged into a suit of armour which toppled to the ground. "Shit!" She yelped, as the clashing just seemed to echo through the corridor. Becky stood looking at it for what seemed like forever until she heard the voice of Filtch shouting, "Who's here?" Becky panicking did the first thing she could think of; she bolted.

Sirius neared the last corner until he would come to the Owlery when suddenly a massive clash reverberated throughout the corridors. He froze and heard a recognisable person cursing then Filtch shout out loud.

Without thinking about it, he immediately rushed after the footsteps that were heading towards the shouting and, turning the corner, he saw Becky running ahead of her, her robes billowing out behind her. He didn't risk shouting, so built up all the speed he had and sprinted towards her.

Becky was slowing down anyway; it seemed that it'd dawned on her in which direction she was heading. Sirius sped up as both he and Becky saw a faint amber light getting brighter and they knew it was Filtch approaching. Sirius was now meters behind Becky and as a cat's head protruded from around the wall, he jumped, knocking Becky into the wall and slammed his hand over her mouth tightly.

She didn't protest for as soon as she felt someone shove her, a translucent silky material covered her view and she distinctly remembered it from the incident in Hogsmede. Although she would never admit it out loud, the scent of vanilla washed over her and she realised exactly who it was.

"Who's there?" Demanded Filtch as he rounded the corner, an oil lamp swinging from his hand. Becky froze in the odd position she was in and Sirius breathed into her ear, "Don't move."

Filtch poked around for a while before he saw the suit of armour. He groaned loudly and hobbled over to it, muttering and Sirius whispered again, "He's going over there. Okay, we're going to move slowly away." Becky shivered as his breath tickled her neck and she could tell he was grinning.

Becky could feel her face getting warmer and was thankful for the dim light, however she was pretty sure Sirius wasn't concentrating on the redness of her face. Becky looked to the side. Filtch was walking down the corridor, heals clopping on the wooden flooring and he was carrying bits of the armour. Becky suddenly felt guilty for just running off, but there was no way she could help him without getting caught and with the position she was in now there was no way Sirius would just let her walk out and apologize. The thought of that reminded her that Sirius and she still hadn't moved.

"Sirius..." Becky whispered pointing to Miss Norris who was staring at the spot where both of them were standing. Just as he turned around Miss Norris made a deep growling type of noise, Filtch paused in his step. "Who's here?" He bellowed.

Becky squinted her eyes as she felt Sirius move closer to her. Is that even possible? she thought.

"Mrs Norris, who's there?"

"Stupid cat" Sirius mumbled, it was so quiet as he'd said it. The only reason that she'd even heard it was because he was so close.

Miss Norris meowed again and stood on all fours, she flicked her tail in the air and started walking down the corridor. Filtch gave another look around the empty space and followed the cat muttering something about school not being tight enough on punishment.

"Pheeew..." Sirius breathed out and relaxed. He loosened his grip around Becky and she ran a hand through her hair, flushing. Sirius grinned at her from under the cloak, "What were you thinking?"

He started directing them back towards the Common Room and Becky protested, "It wasn't my fault! It was dark, okay..."

"You should've just gone to the dormitory then," Sirius teased, laughing.

"Well then I would've been alone," Becky said feebly, "At least in there I had Basil."

Sirius smirked, "Yes, I know about Basil."

Becky instantly remembered unfolding the letter she'd received from Sirius a few nights ago and then about all the letters over summer. Her face dropped, "Not funny."

"Oh, c'mon," Sirius chuckled and let the cloak fall over the faces as he poked her in the ribs. Becky nearly squealed but just stifled a giggle, making sure they didn't interrupt Filtch again.

"I repeat. Not funny."

"You owe me one," He whispered.

"Really?" Becky challenged. Sirius smirked and, dropping the cloak he was holding above with his hands, he started tickling her and generally flirting with her. Becky couldn't help giggling shrilly again but they were away from the incident at this point.

"Stop!" She pleaded out of breath. Sirius grinned more and replied, "I don't think so. Not until you're entirely in my debt!"

Becky stopped walking and doubled over, the Cloak showing both their feet. Sirius continued tickling her and Becky squirmed, but they were close to the Portrait Hole now.

"Okay, okay!" She laughed, "Sirius Black, I am completely and entirely in your debt!"

"And you'll do anything to repay me?" He smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Becky said and Sirius stopped.

"Hey," He said, eyes glinting. Becky looked up at him and realised how close they were under the cloak. She breathed in quickly and looked inquisitively at him. He smiled, "I know exactly what I want in return."

Becky looked at him and noticed the mischievous tone to his voice. Butterflies were dancing around in her stomach but most of her just wanted to run away from him right there. She laughed nervously, delaying the inevitable question. She couldn't help noticing he licked his lips.

"What?" She tried to make it sound light, uncaring but he saw through it.

"Would you consider yourself to be impulsive?"

"Uh-" She babbled nervously, "- Well, I don't really think about- I mean, I guess sometimes I- well I could be considered to-"

Sirius looked down at her and leaned forwards, slowly. Becky's breathing hitched and she could tell what was about to happen. He let the cloak drop over their heads again and rested his forehead against hers gently. Becky closed her eyes as she fizzed inside, not believing this was happening and she felt his lips press against hers.

Softly, sweetly and shortly. She knew from seeing him before with girls that he was a public kisser and by that she means experienced. But this wasn't like anything she'd imagined before – and yes, she had imagined it. It was like he actually meant it.

He broke away and looked at her. Becky felt so indifferent. She didn't know what to do and Sirius slowly smiled.

"Even?" He murmured.

Becky looked at him, her face still in shock and she didn't know what to say. She stepped out from under the Cloak and looked down. Sirius stayed hidden however as Becky couldn't see him. She looked at the floor and, without knowing what to say, she just turned on her heel and slowly walked back to the Portrait.

"Freezing Frogs," She muttered to the Fat Lady who had watched her appear from what must've seen like nowhere. She started bantering to Becky but she just ignored her and stepped through the Portrait Hole.

Sirius watched Becky leave him standing in the corridor and strangely felt really happy. He felt... exhilarated. It was weird, he'd never felt that before. It may've just been the sheer innocence of that tiny kiss that felt like a rocket exploding inside of him, or the fact that even when she walked away from him, no words said, he could tell that she was happy about it. Very happy.

He shook his head and then let the cloak fall off his head and shoulders, grabbing it with his hand. The Fat Lady watched in astonishment again and said, "I don't know what you're doing, but you better get back inside."

Sirius smiled and said, "Freezing Frogs." She let him in, tutting and scolding as he went but she was taunting too.

The Common Room was empty, and to Sirius's surprise, it was gone 11pm. He felt like just falling onto the sofa and smiling to himself for another few hours but knew that the rest of the Marauders would be waiting for him upstairs.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw Remus pulling on a clean white shirt, Peter tucked up in bed and James doing some last-minute homework.

"Hi guys," He grinned and walked over to his bed. He sighed happily and flopped onto it. Remus and James exchanged looks.

"Pads..?" James asked, "What happened?"

Sirius grinned, "It was so amazing."

"That's not very explanatory," Remus said although he smiled to himself. Sirius sat up and looked at the two. He started to recount his story, about the Filtch incidence and then the chat back. He stopped after he got to, "...So we were stood outside..."

"And then..?" James trailed off, wondering.

"And then I kissed her," Sirius grinned. Remus's mouth fell open and James let the papers slide from his bed and onto the floor.

"Really?" James asked and Remus just continued staring. Sirius threw one of his pillows over to Remus, where it bounced off him. However, he quickly caught it and held onto it.

"Yes, really," He smirked and Remus threw it back, though not intending to hit him.

"I don't believe it." James said, picking up some of the papers that had drifted to the floor.

"Well it happened!" Sirius replied as he fell back into his mattress, "So how was it with Millie?"

Remus peered up from his novel, "I guess you're talking to me?"

James scoffed, "Is there anyone else in here that has a crush on her?"

"Well, Peter might" Sirius reasoned, all three of the guys turned to look at the round lump that was snoring, "Then again, I really don't think he'd have a chance."

Remus rolled his eyes, "It was fine."

"Just fine?" James asked, "Surely it was more than 'fine'. What did you do?"

"We talked," Remus responded boredly.

"About what?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you both do great impersonations of gossiping girls?" Remus said, shortly after two pillows were thrown in his direction, "Oi!"

"Well, come on mate, give us a bit more than that!" James laughed.

"I'm sorry, but I don't kiss and tell," Remus laughed, eyebrows raised, "Unlike you!" He directed to Sirius.

"So you did kiss her!" Sirius grinned.

"Don't get excited," Remus said, "I couldn't just kiss her!"

"Why not?" Sirius asked, genuinely confused, "I did."

"Yes, but you're Sirius," Remus said, exasperated, "You can get any girl you want without hesitation and you can certainly just kiss a girl. I can't."

"Oh, come on Rem," Sirius reasoned, "Why ever not?"

"Because of my-" He lowered his voice, "- Furry little problem. Can I seriously have a relationship with that secret hidden?"

"Oh... come on Mooney," James put in a little awkwardly, "You shouldn't..."

"And Moony, I'm sure you could have any girl you want if you just had a bit more confidence, and after all, you are a Marauder" Sirius continued.

Remus laughed, "Who said i wanted any girl?"

James grinned, "You want Millie."

"But she doesn't want me..."

Sirius and James now swapped looks, speechless.

The next morning the only one who seemed to be in a good mood was Millie. They were all up and getting ready, Millie was sat by the mirror trying to get her fringe perfect while Becky had gone to the bathroom to wash her face. Lily instead was fully dressed and pretending to read a book. She was really regretting what she'd said last night.

"Lily, how long are you going to be not reading that book?" Millie asked cheerfully.

Lily blushed, "What? I am reading it..."

Millie raised an eyebrow but let it go, "So come on!"

"Excuse me?" Lily said utterly confused at what Millie was asking.

"What happened between you and James?"

Lily shrugged, "What happened between you and Remus?"

Millie bit her lip, "he was nice..."

"What do you mean by that?" Becky drawled tiredly as she was walking out from the bathroom.

Millie looked nervous for a second but then she smiled, "It was so lovely. He's so nice and, aw, he's just so cute!"

"Did you kiss?" Becky asked bluntly.

Millie went completely red, "No! Of course not, you know Remus he's really shy..."

Lily looked towards Becky who just blinked back, "What's up with both of you?"

Lily looked startled, "What do you mean?"

Millie sat down on the end of her bed, "well I'm saying what happened with Remus so, Becky what happened with Sirius?" As both gazes of Lily and Millie settled on Becky she began to feel very fidgety, she tried to control her moving and picked up a brush and started brushing her hair while talking. "Nothing, he didn't find me."

"I don't believe that." Millie mumbled, Becky heard it but she wasn't going to comment about it. Millie soon realizing Becky was going to stick to her story she moved on to Lily, "So, you and James?"

"Nothing really," Millie sighed over dramatically "He just told me that he was thinking about breaking up with Jenny."

"Then that's good!" Millie exclaimed excitedly. Becky rolled her eyes which Millie didn't see but Lily sent her a very plain look.

"No, it's not. I have no idea what I want!"

"Huh. Know that feeling." Becky said. She felt both eyes turn to her and fell silent, brushing the same strands of hair repeatedly until they became static.

"Right," Millie said and the attention was turned to her, "I'm going to explain everything to you in full detail and because we're all best friends we're all going to do the same. And it's got to be the truth and it's got to be informative."

No one agreed with her, but she started anyway. It didn't exactly bore Becky and Lily but they both would've wanted to listen to something else rather than her babble on about the way Remus has, "Such a cute little hair flick – whenever it falls into his eyes he'd swish his head slightly and smooth his hair down!" or "His eyes. They're seriously so blue and intense..." and definitely not about his "cute butt!" She eventually finished and sat down, head in her hand.

"Okay, your turn!"

"Becky goes first-" Lily shouted whereas Becky shouted, "-Lily goes first." Both of the two girls turned to glare at each other, eventually Becky muttered, "We're going to be late."

"What's first?" Lily asked, Millie however laughed "Potions. Again."

While Millie practically skipped on two meters ahead of Becky and Lily the two other girls were walking slowly behind. "Why aren't you excited, its Potions..."

"Why aren't you excited you get to sit next to your favourite person." Lily returned.

Becky cringed, "Don't say stuff like that!"

"So, he did find you." Lily stated.

"Of course he did," Becky replied in a hushed tone.

"You're nothing to do with the armour being destroyed are you?"

Becky's eyes widened, "If I say 'no' will you believe me?"

"No," Lily smiled.

Happy new year for all the readers – and thank you so much for continuing to follow, etc. We tried to get to 100,000 words (in all our stories combined) by the end of this year, but only got to 96,842... however, that's good as well!