AN: So this isn't a real chapter but an interlude, a little something to give an insight into the minds of some of the characters. I will be doing this throughout the whole story for all, or at least most characters; but if most of you, the readers, find this unnecessary or not to your like I can stop doing so.

I hope you enjoy it and please leave a comment or critic afterwards XD

Disclaimer: Once again I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters with the exceptions of my OC's Gabriel, Charles, and Cassandra.

Interlude: James/Lily/Sirius

James kissed her with as much passion and lust as he could muster; imagining that instead of the brunette in his arms there is a fiery redhead. It is their first night as a married couple, after pasting fake smiles and loving glances they are too tired and exhausted that the act of kissing is but a chore; never mind that they have to consummate their marriage. They do not love each other; at most they tolerate and consider each other acquaintances, only connected in their bond to Sirius; his best friend and brother in all but blood and her older twin brother.

He loves another, a muggleborn witch by the name of Lily Evans, the only woman he has been in love with since James first saw her in their first year in Hogwarts. But she isn't a pureblood and his parents were clear in their distaste towards his chosen mate, eventually forcing him into a loveless marriage contract with a woman whom he knows almost nothing about; only that she is his best friend's younger twin sister and that she was a Slytherin.

He blanks his mind, forcing his body into the motions of sex, aroused but not feeling any of the expected passion and lust. James knows that his new wife, Cassandra, is doing the same; simply letting him into her body with no resistance but not helping either. When he comes they both give a sigh of relief that they don't bother to hide. He quickly but tenderly pulls out, tiredly hoisting himself up and after picking his discarded clothes, gave her a wan smile and went to the room next door. They had not spoken to each other for other than the necessary small talk in public but it is silently agreed that they will not share a room and although his parents know this they allow it; knowing that they had to produce an heir within a year or both will have to deal with the consequences.

For three days they go through the same motions; they have meaningless sex, he gives her a wan smile, she simply nods at him, and he goes away. The next four weeks are nerve wracking for him; soon they would know if she had gotten pregnant and if not, then it was back to trying. Thankfully a visit from the family healer gave positive results, she was pregnant.

James didn't know how to feel. Should he be proud that soon he would be a father? Happy? Or should he feel angry that there was now nothing that could separate him from his cold wife?

It was all so confusing.

James frowned as he looked upon his late wife's photograph, one of the few in which she smiled in happiness. She looked as beautiful as ever, dark brown/black hair flowing in the summer breeze, pale skin flushed from the sun, and pink lips pulled into a soft smile. Alongside her were their two sons, five year old Hadrian smiling brightly at the camera, a gap where he had lost his first tooth. On his side was four year old Gabriel, laughing happily and looking so much like his mother.

He smiled reluctantly; it had been him that had taken the photo. He too, had been happy; enjoying being with his family after being long from home after having had to be away in Bulgaria as part of his job as Head Auror for a whole week. Who would have thought that only a year later she would be gone forever; finally succumbing to the same sickness that had taken her own mother.

James had even come to love Cassandra, not as much as he loves Lily but a part of him soon learned to love her. He learned to love and care for her and Gabriel was borne of those sentiments; a part of him thinking that maybe being with her wasn't so bad after all. But Lily, the woman that he truly and passionately loves, would forever overshadow Cassandra and he had known he would forever prefer Lily over his wife.

And then she died.

Everyday as he wakes and sees the fiery red hair at his side, he asks himself, "Did I do the right thing? Or was I simply too naïve?"

Did he do the right thing in marrying Lily? Should he have simply waited longer to mourn his late wife before finally giving in to his selfish wants and getting back his first love? A part of him had known the reaction his sons would have but James had ignored it; making himself believe that with time his sons would warm up to Lily and their half-brother, soon seeing her as a second mother. Fool. He was a fool and now he paid for his selfish and foolish desires.

Everyday as he sees the malicious and cold person his son, his darling Hadrian, had become, James blames himself. It was him that pushed and pushed and now the results glared at him. Where did the nice, bubbly, and loving Hadrian go? When had that innocent child become cruel, cold, and so angry?

It was his complete fault wasn't it? Of course it is.

He gave a sardonic laugh, eyes sad and mournful.

James was at fault. It was he who had after only a month of Cassandra's death married Lily, forcing his still mourning sons, who had loved and still loved their mother; to welcome a stranger that was to be their new mother and a boy that too, was their father's son.

Lily, in the privacy of her mind, always questioned if she was at fault for the distanced and cold relationship that existed between James and his sons. Was she right to demand him to marry her so soon after Cassandra's death? Or was she too insensitive and hadn't thought to take into account that James had children, and although James hadn't loved his wife they did love their mother?

She shook her head.

She had been tired, she knows. Tired to be known as the 'other' woman, tired of being the one he really loved but not the one whom with he stayed the night with, tired of being the mistress. And her son, her sweet and innocent Charles didn't deserve to know his father had another family with a wife and kids; he didn't deserve to know that he was just the bastard child and would never be equal to his father's other children. Neither did she deserve to be always called out a whore, sleeping with a married man, and someone that was better than her, a mud-blood.

Only once did she venture into the magical world with her son.

A great mistake and one she and her son will never forget.

Charles looked almost an exact replica of his father only with her coloring and already James' cheating had been known; that she bore a child outside marriage and with a pureblood married man was disgrace. Lily was called all versions of whore, slut, bitch, etc. and her son, who had barely been four years old but understood they were both scorned and hated, had to hear as he and his mother were called all types of degrading things. Lily immediately grabbed her son and fought through the sneering masses to keep her child from having to experience their hate but the damage had been done. That night she had to console her son as he cried himself to sleep; breaking her heart and she blamed herself, it was she that had caused her son to feel that way.

It was her that had ignored the fact that James was already a married man and forbidden to her. It was he who had first approached her with the purpose to start a secret romance but it was she who had at last accepted; she who always encouraged the man she loved to forget about his wife and sleep with her, to make love to her like he would never do to her. It was she that had deluded herself into believing that her actions would have no consequences; like a son borne of their affair, forever branding him a bastard because James would never be able to recognize him as his son.

Lily had been tired of all that and the death of Cassandra was a godsend to her, who had seen the light at the end of the tunnel and seen the chance to finally become James wife like they had planned since their fifth year in Hogwarts. But he always told her it wasn't the right time, that his sons (Lily hating the fact he had second son with her, wasn't one enough?) needed more time to mourn, that it was too soon to get married right after his wife's death.

"Excuses, excuses," she had screamed at him. And then she had given him an ultimatum: or he married her and legitimized their son or he could forget about her and her son; never to see them ever again.

Now five years later she asks herself, was she right in what she had done?

He was drunk, he knew. But he couldn't make himself care, not when he drank to drown out the memory of his little sister, his sweet Cassandra. She had been the only one he truly loved from his family, the only that understood his dislike for their prejudice and hatred for everything that wasn't to their like; the only one that ever got the real him. But now she was forever gone, leaving him behind to care for her children like he had promised on her deathbed; to protect them until his dying breath.

Sirius always considered James as his brother, sharing the same propensity for mischief, rule breaking, and of course, being good looking; but never did he imagined that they would soon be able to call themselves brothers for real until he learned that James was to marry his sister. Of course he had been torn between being happy for his sister for she had always harbored a crush on James or his overprotective brother urges as she was his only sister and his twin at that. He decided to be happy, for he would be able to call James family; that is until he remembered that James only loved one woman and unfortunately Cassandra was not that woman, but Lily Evans.

Until then Sirius was indifferent to Lily. He didn't hate her like a 'respectable' Black should have, but neither did he particularly like her, finding her at times condescending and a know-it-all. He only 'tolerated' her because it was the girl his best mate fancied himself to be in love with.

Never did Sirius thought he would come to hate Evans until he finally learned that James, the one man that he had thought would at least care for his sister, give her the respect she deserved as his wife; was cheating on her and never even bothered to hide the fact he did. Sirius had confronted James as soon as reached him of what James was doing. The smiling bastard hadn't even denied it, telling him to his face that yes; he was cheating on her with Lily Evans.

Sirius punched him.

Once and then once again.

It was only after Cassandra separated them that he stopped, James sporting a black eye, several bruises, and a split lip while Sirius wasn't any better. Sirius never spoke to the bastard traitor after that; ignoring all pleas to talk to James and repair their now broken friendship.

Potter's marriage to Evans after only a month of Cassandra's death only cemented the growing animosity Sirius felt for him and her. Any chance to repair their lost friendship were now gone; Sirius would never forgive, much less so forget, what Potter had done.

Never.

AN: I have super awesome news…I'm a new aunty to a super KAWAII BABY!

He was born on Christmas Eve and I am just so happy for my sis…

Anyway, hope you like this and please Review, it will make my day XD