Dinner came all too soon. James, Remus, Peter, Lily, Kendra, Chloe and Melissa were all sitting together at the Gryffindor table, waiting for the food to appear when they saw Sirius enter the Great Hall. They waved him over, but he purposely ignored them, and looked around for the seventh year boys Tara had mentioned. He saw some older-looking boys waving at him and knew instantly it was them. He walked over to them and said "hi."
"Hey Sirius!" One of them said welcomingly, smiling reassuringly at him, "Let me introduce everyone. This," he said, pointing out a blonde boy with striking brown eyes and daringly spiky hair, "is Zack Taylor."
"Hey," Zack said, "How goes it?"
"Good," Sirius replied.
"This is Jack Clarke," the boy continued, gesturing at a tall youth with longer than normal brown hair that stuck out at the sides and matching eyes.
"This is Andrew Dixon." The boy pointed out sported dark brown hair, cut stylishly and stormy grey-blue eyes.
"And I'm Nick. Nick Turner," said the boy, who, Sirius noticed, was the leader of the group. He had sandy brown hair and green eyes and was definitely the heartthrob of the group.
"Hey everyone," Sirius said apprehensively. Did he really fit with this crowd? Was he popular enough to make friends with these obviously popular seventh years?
"Hey," said an unfamiliar voice, making him look up sharply.
"I'm Sarah Thompson," the voice said with a rich London accent. She had shoulder length blonde hair and blue eyes.
"I'm Felicity Bell," another girl said. Felicity had long brown hair and attractive hazel eyes.
"I'm Annabel Peterson," a third girl said. She had sandy hair and brown eyes, but what attracted Sirius the most to her was her epic cleavage. He ogled her for a moment before he was interrupted by another voice.
"I'm Catherine Gregory, but everyone calls me Kate." The girl had short brown hair cut in a bob, and pretty green eyes.
"And you already know who I am," Tara added, grinning at him, "So, do you like our company?"
"Yeah," Sirius said, already feeling included and happy within this group, "It's great!"
"I'm sure we're much more interesting than the infamous Marauders," Annabel said snidely, eagerly awaiting Sirius' response. It was clear to Sirius that this was some kind of test, which he was expected to pass.
"Yeah, way more interesting," he replied eagerly. It was clear he had given the right response. The whole group seemed to relax and soon started talking and laughing.
Sirius could clearly see the couples the group was currently divided into. Annabel and Zack were flirting with each other blatantly, but Tara assured him they were not going out. Felicity and Jack were making out over the roast beef, and the rest of the group were not making sick faces, like the Marauders too often did to Kendra and Remus, but were egging them on, and saying things like, "Oy Sarz, bet you 5 galleons they go all the way at the Christmas party." Andrew and Kate were both shy, and it showed. If one of them talked to the other, they would both blush bright red and mumble their answer. They obviously liked each other but were too bashful too admit it. Sarah and Nick were the next would-be couple, and, according to Tara, would end up going to the Christmas party together. Tara and himself? Well she was at that very moment leaning towards him and closing her eyes slowly. He recognized this as a sign that she wanted to kiss him. He leant in towards her and captured her lips for a kiss. It was the most passionate kiss he had ever had. She was a great kisser.
"Wow, Sirius Black," she said softly and seductively, "You ARE an amazing kisser."
"Tara Jackson," he replied, "You too."
When the last of the desserts had been eaten, Sirius walked back to the boy's dorm with the others and kissed Tara goodnight in the common room, in full view of Mel, passing by with Lily, Kendra and Chloe. When Mel saw this, she gave a sob and ran up to her dorm. Lily glared at Sirius and ran after her friend, Chloe close on her heels.
"I hope you're happy!" Kendra hissed menacingly, before following Lily and Chloe up to their dorm.
xXoXx
"I hate him!" Mel sobbed into her pillow.
"I agree!" Lily said, irritated beyond belief by Black's actions at dinner. She needed James' pranks more than ever now. Her detention with him and Black was in half an hour. She made up her mind to apologize for yelling at him earlier and set a new time for their pranking meeting.
"You should get James to talk to him, Lily," Kendra suggested thoughtfully, "James is sensible and mature enough to get some sense into that thick head of Black's."
"Well I have detention with him and Black in about half an hour, so I'll ask him then," Lily replied.
"Ooh!" Chloe said teasingly, "Lily has a detention?! Lily and detentions do not mix!"
"Oh ha ha ha Chloe," Lily said sarcastically, "We're tight now."
"Wow Lily," Kendra added, "This is your first detention, isn't it?"
Lily nodded, "And proud of it."
"I was wondering when you'd join the human population," Kendra said, in the middle of painting her nails a rich blue.
Mel snorted, surprising the others in the dorm, a rare occurrence.
"Mel!" Lily said happily, "You laughed!"
"You don't say," Mel replied, getting a laugh out of Kendra and Chloe, "I've decided to live life to its fullest and Sirius Black can f off because I don't give a damn what he thinks!"
"Wow," Chloe commented lightly, "Go Mel! You go girl!"
"Oh my god!" Lily cried, horrified, "I'm five minutes late for my detention!"
"OMG what a tragedy," Chloe said sarcastically," Of course you'd want to be early for detention."
"Ha flippin' ha."
xXoXx
Lily ran all the way from her dorm to the Trophy Room, where her detention with James and Si- Black was being held. When she got there she found James and Black busy polishing trophies half heartedly. They both looked up as she entered the room.
"Hey Lily," James said lightly, running a hand through his hair subconsciously, making it stick up as usual.
"Hey James!" she said, "Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Sure," he replied, moving over to the corner of the room furthest from Black, "So what's up?"
"Um, about this morning-"
"Ah, don't mention it." James said, waving his hand and dismissing the issue, "It was my mistake."
"But I feel awful for yelling at you like that. It was out of order."
"Yeah but if it wasn't for me, we would be in the common room about now thinking about pranks to pull on my ex-best friend."
She laughed, "True. Also, us girls wondered if you'd consider talking to Black about how he hurt Mel?"
He sighed regretfully, "I already tried that, mate. Been there, done that, lost cause, whatever. Let's just say it didn't quite work."
"Oh," Lily said sadly, "She's really upset about it all."
"Yeah, I saw her in the common room when he kissed that blonde slut. She looked heartbroken."
"Oh James!" she cried suddenly, collapsing on him, "She is heartbroken! And the rest of us are all totally stressed about it all! I wish Black would give over and come to his senses!"
Sirius looked up from the trophy he was currently polishing, the Potions cup, and flicked them off moodily.
"Oh Lily," James continued, ignoring Sirius' blatant attempt to gain his attention, "Sirius's an idiot, anyone can see that. He's trying to rise above the rest of us, and it's not going to work."
Sirius snorted loudly.
"So can we meet tomorrow night?" she whispered secretively, furtively glancing at Black to make sure he hadn't heard.
"Sure thing Lils," he replied happily. He would be alone with Lily - the love of his life - for at least an hour! Yes!
"Awesome," she said, beginning to polish the trophy nearest her; the Quidditch Player of the Year cup, engraved with Siriu- Black's name about five times. She dropped it as if it were burning hot when she realized what the cup was for. It clanged loudly on the stone floor and both boys looked up at the noise. Sirius looked smug when he figured out what the fuss was about, while James merely smiled knowingly, "I can't wait until tomorrow night," he whispered gleefully, "Sirius won't know what hit him."