At breakfast the next morning, Sirius sat with Tara and her friends again. From their spot at the end of the Gryffindor table, he could see James glaring at him from where he was sitting with the other Marauders and the girls. In fact, he could see all of them glaring at him. Well if they couldn't understand how cool he was now with his new friends, they weren't worth his time.

"What do you think, Sirius?" Jack asked inquisitively, spooning cereal into his bowl, bringing Sirius back into the conversation.

"Huh?" Sirius said blearily. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night, because of several things. His mattress had been unusually hard, like a rock, he could hear all sorts of weird noises like lions roaring loudly and car horns blasting, which was unusual because Hogwarts was situated away from Muggles, and he kept having weird nightmares about James, Remus and Peter sitting with Dumbledore at lunch and leaving him to sit on his own. Unbeknown to him, James had been practising a few pranks to tell Lily about at their meeting and had transfigured Sirius' mattress into a rock, charmed the owls outside to sound like lions, car horns and other funny noises, and charmed his ex-best friend's dreams to show their situation to him. Clearly it hadn't worked quite as well as he had hoped, but it had had the effect of giving Sirius virtually no sleep.

"I said, Sarah so likes Nick, and Nick said no of course she doesn't, and I said he's just in denial. What do you reckon, Mr Man of seduction?"

"Mr Man of seduction?! What the hell?"

"Well within two days of knowing Tara, you've seduced her from here to Mars, so I figure that makes you Mr Man of seduction."

"Where are the girls anyway?" Sirius asked curiously, peering around as if expecting to see Tara, Sarah, Felicity, Annabel and Kate appear out of nowhere.

"They're probably still getting ready. You wouldn't believe how long those girls take to get ready for school!" Nick said, still sulking from Sirius' judgement about his and Sarah's relationship.

"Sirius," Andrew piped up hesitantly, looking embarrassed.

"Yeah mate?"

"Do you think Kate likes me?" he said, flushing.

"Hell, Andy! Are you blind or something?! She bloody well worships the ground you walk on, dude!" Sirius replied.

"Really?"

"God," Zack grumbled, "He never listens to ME when I tell him that. He'd better listen to you."

"Oh he will, don't worry," Jack chimed in, knowing it was true.

"Do you think I should ask her to the Christmas Dance?" Andrew asked, a little more confidently.

"Hell yeah!" Sirius yelled triumphantly, doing a mini victory dance on his chair.

"Du-oh!" Zack and Jack said simultaneously, hitting their foreheads and showing how obvious the answer was.

"Yes," Nick said happily, "Do you think I should ask Sarah?"

"Ha!" Jack said, giving Nick his famous in-your-face smirk, "You like her, you love her, you wanna have her babies," he gloated, chanting.

"Shut up," Nick said through clenched teeth, flushing slightly.

"Yeah," Sirius said through his laughter, "She likes you too."

"She waaaaaants you, and she waaaants your babie- Ouch," Jack said, as Nick punched him lightly.

"Hey boys," Sarah said, sitting down at the seat opposite Nick.

The said boys gaped. The five girls sitting down in front of them were hot. They were all wearing their Hogwarts uniform, but Sarah's hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and she was wearing light eye makeup and bright pink lipgloss. Felicity's brown hair was done in a loose bun with the front pieces of her hair hanging loose. Annabel had let her hair go loose and was wearing a light blue beanie, and Kate's dark hair was loose as well.

Despite these four very attractive girls, it was Tara that caught Sirius' eye. She looked stunning with her hair out and the front pieces of her hair were tied together at the back of her head. She had put on smouldered black eye makeup and her lips looked natural and shiny. He grinned at her appreciatively and she winked back at him sexily.

Wow, he thought, She sure is hot!

xXoXx

James glared at Sirius. Sirius seemed to be fitting in with those seventh years perfectly, as though he hadn't existed. It hurt, seeing his best friend for five years making new friends and totally ignoring all his old friends. Sirius didn't even seem to realize he was hurting all his old friends, which made the betrayal even worse.

"He's so stubborn," Kendra remarked frustratedly, seeing where James was looking.

"Yeah, I know," James said, "He doesn't seem to care about us either, which just makes it all the worse."

"Give him time, he'll come back to us," Remus added wisely, "I know Sirius. Right now he's not thinking about what he's doing, or who he's hurting."

Lily snorted, "Of course he's not! He's Black for goodness sake!"

"But L-Lily," Peter said haltingly, "the four of us are the Marauders! We're in it together. One for all and all for one!"

"Somehow, Pete, I don't think he sees it that way," Lily replied scathingly, scowling at Sirius' back from where he was sitting with those shallow seventh years. She had no idea what he thought he was doing, or where he got off with hurting one of her best friends, but he was gonna get what he deserved - she would make sure of that.

"Don't judge him too harshly, Lily," Remus said warningly, spreading jam over his toast hastily, "As I said, he doesn't know what he's doing."

She sighed, "You're too nice, Remus Lupin."

"Hey!" James protested mock-angrily, "What about me?"

"You're too arrogant."

"Damn."

xXoXx

"I know what we need!"

"James! Not so loud! Professor Slughorn will hear!"

"Sorry Lily," James apologized, crushing red beetle legs into a powder hurriedly, "It's just I've got the perfect way to cheer everyone up! You know how Sirius," he said, pointing his former best friend and his new girlfriend out angrily, "has been behaving lately. Well, it's been affecting everyone in our group. You know that."

"So what's your grand plan?" Lily said sarcastically, stirring their potion viciously, having been reminded of Sirius.

"A party!"

"You know, James, for once in your life I think you've had a good idea!" Lily exclaimed excitedly. Of course! A party would cheer everyone up. How could she have missed it? And she called herself the smartest girl in their year!

"Why thank y- Lily!" James replied, flattered, until he realized what she had said. He punched her shoulder lightly, mock-glaring at her. Unfortunately, this movement also tipped the cauldron containing their Hearus Thoughtimus potion (a potion causing the user to hear a another chosen person's thoughts for a day) over the two of them.

"James, m'boy!" Slughorn boomed angrily, "what were you thinking?"

Exactly what I want to know, James heard, I can't believe him! The second I actually begin to think he's matured somewhat, he goes and pulls a stupid prank!

What the hell, he thought, Why does Lily think I'm pulling a prank? Wait- she thinks I've matured somewhat? Ooh, that's nice!

"That's not very nice, Lily," he said out loud, scowling at her.

"I didn't say anything!" Lily responded confusedly, looking around the classroom to see if someone else had spoken.

Ladies and Gentlemen: James Harry Potter has finally cracked, she thought.

"Excuse me!" James said, hurt evident on his face, "I have not! I heard you say that!"

"Wha- Oh my gosh! The potion!"

"Yeah, Lily. The potion that's currently all over us," James said, gesturing at their soaked clothes and sodden hair irritatedly.

"No, James, the potion! It worked! We can hear each other's thoughts!"

No, please no! James thought desperately, willing it not to be true.

Oy! I don't like this any more than you do, Potter!

So it's Potter now, is it Evans?

Yes, Potter, it is.