Sirius looked around him, his expression furtive. He dashed through the empty corridors to find the slytherin common room entrance. He came face to face with the stone wall. He sneered and whispered, "Mudblood." The stone wall slid aside, and Sirius tiptoed in, carefully hidden underneath James's invisibility cloak. He snuck upstairs to the boys dormitories. He swung open the door to the fifth year dormitory and stood over the bed in the corner. There slept Regulus Black, Sirius's only brother. The boy who should have been Sirius's sole confidant and friend that would stick by him through anything. The only thing that Sirius's ever saw of his broken and lost family. His face had a slight pinched look about it, not nearly as handsome as Sirius's. He was wearing black silk pajamas, the Black family crest adorning the pocket on his left breast. Sirius gave a soft chuckle, ripped off the pocket, left the note next to Regulus's head on his pillow, and left.

Regulus awoke the next morning and found the piece of yellow parchment on his pillow. It read: If you call one of my friends a mudblood one more time, I won't wait for Voldemort to finish with you, I'll kill you myself. I don't care that you're my brother. You mean nothing, and you are nothing to me. You were the one person who, no matter what, had to love me, and you can't even do that.

James sat up in his bed, sunlight flooding through his red hangings, creating a curious orange glow. Through the translucent hangings, James made out a figure sitting by the window, his head in his hands. James threw aside the hangings, and saw it was Sirius, looking thoroughly distraught.

Sirius looked up at him, "I visited Regulus last night."

James's jaw dropped, "Padfoot, you didn't! How?"

Sirius shrugged, "Used you're invisibility cloak, used legilimency to get one of the house elves to tell me the password...it wasn't too difficult."

James loped off the bed and sat down on the windowsill next to Sirius, "What did you do?"

"What else?" Asked Sirius, with a sneer.

James gasped, "You didn't-you didn't kill him, did you?"

Sirius laughed, "Of course not. I left him a note...threatening to kill him."

James grimaced, "Padfoot...you don't have to take responsibilty of him. He may be you brother by blood, but not by body and soul."

Sirius stood up, overturning the water jug, "That's just it!"

"Sirius, mate, calm--"

Sirius set his jaw, "I will not calm down, Prongs! That's just it...we're bound by blood. As much as I'd like to deny it, as much as I'd like to tell everyone that you're my brother, that Mr. and Mrs. Potter are my parents, you all aren't. I'm really part of the noble house of Black." He spat.

"Sirius," said James, looking him straight in the eye, "I don't care if you're bound by blood...blood counts for nothing next to love. And they don't love you. My family does. You know that really, in truth, we're your family."

Lily brushed her hair in front of the mirror in the bathroom. She had promised James she would sit with him at breakfast this morning. He wasn't really so bad, James, once you got to know him. It was very odd, when you thought about it. She had despised the very ground James had walked on for six years, and now, suddenly it was as if she had been carelessly delusional. Maybe it was because she had finally seen him for what he really was. Or maybe it was just that he had finally matured.

James had always seemed to Lily as annoying, egotistical, conceited, and irritating. He was always asking her out, hexing slytherins, flirting in front of girls. He had always thought he was so cool, just because he was popular and good at transfiguration. Lily had always thought that was all there was too him, but Lily now realized that though James may have seemed just like a normal, arrogant prat, he really got stuff that no one else got. He knew how Lily felt when people spat 'mudblood' in her face, how much anger and betrayal she felt when she heard of the prejudice, discrimination, and all the unfair treatment of innocent people.

Lily's blood boiled when she heard of the killings and devastation, but now, it was amazing to know that someone actually knew everything she felt, someone who knew the thoughts in her mind. She felt like she could connect with him.

Lily smiled at herself in the mirror and whispered to herself, "You're an idiot." It was so silly! She could connect with James Potter, of all people!

Lily ran downstairs to the common room where she saw Sirius sitting with Remus in front of the fire. Lily went over to them, "Hello, boys. Where's James?"

Sirius turned to her, ashen-faced, "He's coming, don't wet yourself, Evans."

Lily narrowed her eyes, "Black! Why do you always have to be so unnecessarily rude?"

Sirius grinned up at Lily, "Sorry, Evans. You go have yourself a fun time with Jamsie."

James looked sideways at her, unable to take his eyes off her. She was so beautiful. Her flowing red hair in casual disarray, her smile so sincere, her eyes deep and sparkling, her face so gorgeously imperfect. He loved to just sit and watch her smile and talk with her friends, with his friends, who were now her friends. It was like after so many years he might finally get her. It was like any dream, no matter how impossible, could come true.

James turned to her when there was a pause in the conversation, "Lily, do you want to come on a walk with me after potions?"

Lily grinned, "That is if you don't get another ten thousand detentions from Professor Slughorn?"

James grinned back, "Ah, well, he's just prejudice. I don't deserve a single one of his detentions. That old potbelly's just got it in for me."

"Oh really?" asked Lily, raising her eyebrows, "So, it was entirely not your fault when you put frog spawn in Snape's cauldron, making his potion explode, spattering everyone with nasty boil-making potion?"

The marauders exploded in laughter, clutching each other for support. Peter grinned appreciatively, "That was great, that was. Never seen anything like it. Avery looked like he had had the chicken pox for six months, the amount of red splotches he had on his face."

Lily gasped, "That was not funny."

James nudged her with his elbow, "Come on Lils, you have to admit it was funny when Snivellus had to undoe his pants because they wouldn't fit over his boil-covered body."

Lily shook her head, adamant. James nudged her again. She cracked a smile. James nudged her once more. She cracked up, "Okay, it was very funny."

Sirius shook his finger at the two of them, "The Heads, disobeying rules? For shame!"

Lily threw back her head and laughed, "Oh shut it, Sirius."

James gazed at her wonderingly. It seemed she really was...one of his friends.