A/N: Sorry, I meant to put this up earlier, but I got busy and this was the first time I was able to get on the internet. Anyway, thanks to all those who reviewed! You guys rock. Enjoy!


Chapter 4 – Just Friends?

Gryffindor Tower was in a roar of excitement. The Gryffindor Team had beat Slytherin by almost two hundred points. The after-party was one of the biggest the Marauders had seen, and thrown, in their time at Hogwarts. The entire common room was buzzing with the delight of defeating their rivals.

Sirius and Remus, who had decided to set aside studying for one night and even aided the other Marauders in getting the party to this extreme, were watching James relish his moment in the spotlight as he and the other Quidditch players exaggeratedly retold the game play by play. Peter was lost in the crowd somewhere.

"He's going to be insufferable for the next few weeks, isn't he?" Remus commented, loud enough for Sirius to hear him over the music, nodding to James.

Sirius let out his bark-like laugh, but nodded humorously, "Yep." Remus rolled his eyes. "Oh come on Moony, enjoy the party," Sirius told him cheerfully, handing him a cup of the punch they had spiked with Firewhisky earlier. Remus took the punch, but continued to roll his eyes, though he was smiling, he too was happy Gryffindor had won. "Look, even Evans is letting her hair down."

Remus looked over to where Sirius was pointing, and indeed noticed the redhead Head Girl smiling and laughing with her friends. "Has Prongs noticed her yet?" he questioned apprehensively. Sirius laughed again, but shook his head, grinning brightly. Remus had to smile as well.

"Come on, let's go say hello," Sirius said. And he and Remus began making their way through the crowd over to the girls.

It took them a few minutes to get across the room, having to stop and talk to several people on their way. Finally, they made it over to where now only Lily and Hailey were standing.

Hailey was the first to notice them. "Hey guys," she greeted with a smile.

"Hey," they replied, returning the smile.

Lily turned to face them. "Nice party," she complimented, though Remus and Sirius glanced at each other, neither sure if she was being sarcastic or not, but pretty sure she was since she was gesturing to the crowd, half of which was already drunk.

"It's a celebration, Lily," Remus pointed out.

She sighed, but nodded. "Yeah, I know," she admitted.

"At least you seem to be enjoying yourself," Sirius stated brightly.

Hailey smirked, while Lily looked at him closely and countered, "Interesting punch."

Sirius's smile faltered for a moment, afraid she was getting ready to yell at him, but then he grinned wider. "You seem to like it," he commented, gesturing to their cups.

Lily flushed slightly, grinning sheepishly. Sirius and Remus shared a smirk. "I guess we all need to let loose every once in a while," she shrugged.

"To letting loose," Sirius toasted, raising his cup, grinning.

Remus, Lily, and Hailey all grinned too and raised their cups as well.

"Cheers!"

A little while later it was just Sirius and Hailey left. Remus had left to go search the crowd for Peter, and Lily had somehow ended up talking to James in a corner. Even though they had been getting along better lately, Sirius suspected the main reason Lily was in such a good mood, instead of telling James off for being drunk, was because she was slightly tipsy herself.

He noticed Hailey smirking at the pair too. "How long do you give it before they're a couple?" Sirius asked her lightly.

Hailey chuckled. Shrugging, she answered amusedly, "Two weeks."

Sirius shook his head playfully. "Nah, I say Evans holds out a little longer than that," he told her.

"Wanna bet?" Hailey suggested with a grin.

He looked at her and smirked. "You're on," he agreed. "I say it's three weeks before Evans gives in." Hailey rolled her eyes doubtfully. Sirius chuckled. "A Galleon?"

"Make it two," she countered, watching James and Lily laughing.

"Deal," Sirius agreed, and they shook on it.

"Looks like Remus found Peter," Hailey commented, nodding over to the staircases, where it looked like Remus was half-dragging a semi-conscious Peter up to the boys' dormitory.

Sirius shook his head amusedly, smirking. "Ah, Peter, Peter, Peter," he sighed. "Looks like he had a little too much of the punch," he noted. "We keep telling him to watch that," Sirius muttered, more to himself than Hailey.

Hailey laughed, shaking her head lightly.

"You wanna dance?" Sirius asked suddenly. Hailey looked over at him quickly, with a somewhat suspicious expression. "Just as friends," he assured her, reading her look.

"Just as friends?" she repeated warily, her eyebrows slightly raised.

Sirius nodded. "Just as friends," he promised, holding up his hands in an innocent gesture.

Hailey took a deep breath, but nodded. "OK," she agreed. "But just as friends," she added firmly.

He nodded sincerely, and smiled, pulling her out to the middle of the common room, which was being used as a dance floor for the night.

– X –

"Where's Peter?" Sirius asked Remus suddenly, glancing up from his Charms essay to look around the common room. James was at Quidditch practice, and he was actually taking the time to work on homework with Remus, but he didn't know where Peter was.

Remus too looked up from his books and cast a quick glance around the Gryffindor common room. "Dunno," he shrugged, a thoughtful expression covering his features.

"He seems to be missing quite a bit lately," Sirius commented quietly, looking puzzled.

Remus noticed Sirius's look, but shook his head and said, "Maybe he's off with that Hufflepuff girl he met last year."

Sirius let out his bark-like laugh. "Yeah, maybe," he agreed, though Remus heard the doubtfulness in his friend's voice.

"So how are things going with Hailey?" Remus questioned pointedly, setting his quill down, knowing Sirius was no longer in a studying mood.

Sirius smirked playfully as he leaned back into the couch lazily. "Like you don't know," he retorted half-heartedly.

Remus chuckled. "I don't," he admitted. "You two seem to be hanging around each other more, but, from what I know about Hailey, she's not the type of person who gives in easily. She's more likely to get more stubborn about saying 'no' the more you ask her."

"I know," Sirius nodded. "Which is why I'm not asking," he stated.

Remus raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You're finally giving up?" he questioned in disbelief.

Sirius shook his head. "No. I'm just gonna try being her friend instead," he informed Remus, whose mouth dropped open a bit.

"What?" he replied faintly, dumbstruck.

"I'm trying to be her friend instead," Sirius repeated, with a small roll of his eyes.

"You're trying to be Hailey's friend?" Remus questioned incredulously.

"Yes," Sirius sighed. Then added, "Which is why I have a question for you." Remus gave him an apprehensively questioning look. Sirius leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees as he started, "You two are friends, yeah?"

"Yeah…" Remus nodded slowly, not sure where this was headed.

"How do you do it?" Sirius asked soberly.

Remus raised his eyebrows. "You're serious?" he questioned in disbelief.

"Of course I'm Sirius, who else would I be?" Sirius retorted with a straight face.

Remus rolled his eyes, knowing he had stepped right into that one, and Sirius smirked. "What I meant was…" Remus started, half-annoyed and half-scowling at his friend. "You're really asking me how to be Hailey's friend?" he reiterated.

Sirius nodded. "Yeah," he answered truthfully. "I figure if I can't get her to go out with me, I might at least be able to be friends with her," he shrugged. Remus watched him closely, seemingly pondering something. "What?" Sirius questioned, noticing his friend's look.

"Is this just some ploy to get her to eventually go out with you?" Remus asked him seriously.

"No!" Sirius denied, looking affronted. Remus raised an eyebrow at him, and Sirius rolled his eyes and admitted, "OK, maybe a little." Remus sighed. "But that's not my main reason," Sirius added quickly.

Remus gave him a bewildered look. "Then what is your main reason?" he asked.

Sirius glanced around and, noticing no one else was in the common room except for a small group of fifth years on the other side of the room, looked back at Remus and shrugged. "I dunno….I just want…to be around her. And if she won't go out with me, I might as well try being her friend," he answered slowly and quietly.

Remus watched him for a minute, and realized Sirius was actually being serious, and very un-Sirius-like. "You really like her, don't you?" he asked softly, though it was more of a statement.

Sirius looked up at him quickly. "I never said that," he contradicted forcefully.

Remus smiled, though not in a teasing way. "You do like her," he stated. But before Sirius could retort, Remus started chuckling and muttered, "Sirius Black actually likes a girl, and wants to be her friend." Sirius was scowling fiercely at his friend. Remus shook his head amusedly, and looked Sirius in the eye. "I think that's great," he assured him seriously.

Sirius's scowl dropped, but he was still frowning slightly. "I don't like her like that," he muttered in disagreement. "I just think she's interesting, that's all. She's fun to be around." Remus smirked, and Sirius rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat. "Don't say anything," he pleaded with his friend.

Remus smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry Padfoot, your secret's safe."


A/N: Well, I hope you liked that chapter! I should have the next one up tomorrow afternoon sometime. Reviews are greatly appreciated!