"Padfoot?" they said simultaneously, breaking into wide, identical grins.

"Who the hell?" Mel asked, frowning at the seemingly empty space the bottle had landed on.

"I'm sorry Mel," the voice muttered, a slight catch being the only signal that the speaker really meant it, "I wasn't thinking."

"I don't get it," Lily stated, looking at James and Remus questioningly, "Who-" she asked, stopping short when she saw Sirius pulling an Invisibility Cloak off himself with skilful ease. "You!" she said, not knowing what else to say, "How could you?!"

"Yeah," Remus said harshly, having gotten over his initial shock, "You have a lot of explaining to do, mate."

Sirius winced inwardly. This apology was proving hard enough as it was, Remus of all people should understand that! Remus, the one who had kept his secret from them for three years! Remus, the one who had to apologize profusely for not trusting his 'friends' enough to tell them his deepest, darkest secret! He knew what he had done was wrong. He was sorry. What else could he do?

"I'm sorry," he repeated, "I wasn't thinking."

"You weren't thinking!" Lily scoffed derisively. James, seeing Sirius' apparent distress, was obviously prepared to hear Sirius' side of the story, because he put his hand on Lily's arm reassuringly, holding her back from whatever comment she had been going to make next. Lily, noticing this, threw his hand off her arm and stormed up to the dormitory, but not before making one final comment, "So you weren't thinking when you ruined my best friend's life, were you?"

"Bitch," Sirius growled after her, glaring at her rapidly retreating back.

The rest of the group just stared at him in disbelief, shock and anger. After a long silence, James cracked.

"Don't you call my Lily a bitch!" he yelled, standing up quickly and facing his ex-best friend, "Do you know how much pain you've caused her, caused us? Do you even care?"

"Shit, Prongs," Sirius screamed back angrily, standing up as well, "Of course I care! You're my best friend, for fs sake!"

"Yeah, and you just insulted the girl I love," James retorted bitterly, "Some best friend."

"Fine then! Don't accept my apology!" Sirius roared, furious, "Be a wanker all your life! See if I care!" And with that, he stormed up the stairs loudly and flung himself onto his bed angrily. He couldn't believe how the others were taking his 'apology!' And Lily was too a bitch - she'd messed with James' head enough times for him to know that! And Mel…

Mel.

Mel, with her gorgeous brown hair. Mel, with her sharp wit and quick laugh, ready to laugh at anything life threw her way. Mel, with her strong arm, batting away Beaters from the Quidditch players-

Quidditch! Oh shit…

Why the hell did I do that? This year's going to be hell without Mel on the team…

xXoXx

Meanwhile, downstairs Remus was comforting James as best he could. It was hard, as he was trying to justify what Sirius had been thinking. He knew Sirius hadn't been thinking and was most probably realizing his mistake upstairs right now, but James scoffed when Remus mentioned this.

"He called Lily a bitch, Remus!"

"Yeah, but-"

"Oh don't start," James sneered derisively, "He wasn't thinking, James," he whined sarcastically in a poor imitation of Remus' desperate voice, "Yeah sure he called the girl you're desperately in love with and have been for the past five years a bitch, and called you a wanker, but it's all okay because HE WASN'T THINKING!"

"I'm sorry James," Remus said matter-of-factly, "But you need to face facts. Anyway, I've got some Transfiguration homework to finish off, so I guess I'll see you later in our dorm."

"Yeah," James said, mollified, "See you Remus!"

Remus mumbled a farewell and strode out of the common room.

"Hey Chloe?" James called inquiringly, striding towards her purposefully, "Would you mind getting Lily to come down from her dorm and talk to me?"

"Yeah, okay James. Hey, how're you feeling? Sirius sure cut you a rough one, didn't he?"

"Uh-huh," James muttered, trying to sound non-committal and shrugging her comment off, "Thanks Chloe."

"No prob."

xXoXx

"James?" Lily said, her voice cracking pitifully, "What do you want?"

James sighed sadly, "It's what we talked about a couple of days ago."

"Ah," Lily sighed, sucking in her breath, "The pranks."

"Yeah, well," James had the grace to look embarrassed, "I kinda started doing a bit of stuff a couple of days ago."

"Like what?"

"Giving him nightmares about us all going to sit with Dumbledore at breakfast, transfiguring his mattress into a rock, the list continues." James said smugly, obviously proud of his hard work.

Lily smiled slightly, "I never thought I'd say this, but it looks like you've actually done something right, James," she said.

James smiled back, before realizing what she had actually said, "Maybe you're right," he replied in anguish, "Maybe I don't do anything right. After all, I failed my Divination exam, the girl I love would rather go out with the Giant Squid than me, my best friend hates me and I LET MY PARENTS DIE!"

Lily gasped, speechless. His parents were… dead? She hadn't meant to make James upset! She had meant it as a joke! Her eyes widened as she spotted his hazel ones glistening. He was crying! The famous James Potter, Quidditch player extraordinaire, Prongs the Marauder and Hogwarts' resident heartthrob, crying? It didn't seem possible, at least not to her! It suddenly occurred to her that she had never seen him show weakness to her before, and that she had only ever seen his outer shell of confidence and arrogance. She had never taken the time to get to know the real James Potter, the boy behind the mask. And she felt horrible.

"Oh James," she said softly, trying to express with those simple words what she couldn't express with gestures. She moved towards him, closing the gap between them, throwing her arms around him and hugging him, "I am so very, very sorry."

"Lily?" He replied confusedly, "But don't you hate me too? Like everyone else seems to?"

"No one hates you, James," she said wisely, "You have a lot of friends and we all love you as we love each other! We have a special bond, our group, and it's gonna take a lot more than your insecurities to break it." At her words, she felt him hug her back, and they stayed like that, hugging each other tightly, for some time before James released his arms from around her shoulders and said, "Thanks, Lily. You've helped more than you know." He stood up and started to walk away, and up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, but he hesitated, "And Lily?"

"Yes?" she said tenderly, as if to a brother, "What is it?"

"Please, could you maybe give me a chance? I mean just as a friend!" He assured her passionately, his voice pleading with her, "Please?"

"I think I could do that," she said, intrigued beyond belief with James Potter's ever changing maturity levels, which had just skyrocketed to the mature end. She stood up too, and walked slowly up the stairs to her dormitory, savouring every last moment spent in his company. "Oh and James?" she said as she remembered something important, "Maybe we could meet in the Great Hall before breakfast tomorrow to talk about some cool pranks for Sirius?"

"Yes," James replied slowly, not quite believing what she had just said. This was Lily Evans, wasn't it? The famous girl with beautiful long red hair who disliked him immensely and refused anything he asked of her? Then again, maybe she was maturing just as he was. Anything was possible, "I think I'd like that, Lily."

"And James," Lily said, her voice wavering with- what was it? Confusion? Passion? Some deep, hidden desire? Friendship? Love? Trust? Maybe all of them? "Goodnight."

"Goodnight to you too, Lily," he said quietly, just as strongly and passionately.

And with that, the two walked to their separate dormitories, where they slowly drifted off to sleep, after pondering that night's events hard.