I wish I would have gotten more feedback to see if I am going in the right direction, especially sense that total sod Flecktrike (what kind of name is that?) reviewed so harshly :( But I still love all you nice people :) So here it is.
Chapter 4: Jealousy, YES Jealousy, Will Drive You MAD!
"Come off it Sirius." Laughed a grinning James. The group of Marauders were sitting in the Gryffindor common room. They sat on the couches around the fire, their self claimed spot.
"It's true!" Sirius exclaimed.
"You did not!" Remus responded confidently.
"Oh yes I did! You should have been there!" James, Remus, and Peter all shuddered.
"Glad we weren't." They mumbled.
"What are you lot talking about?" Frank Longbottom had made his way toward them, his girlfriend of three years, Alice Periwinkle ("Just like her eyes." Frank had gushed when they had first started dating).
"This sod," James replied, kicking Sirius in the shin lightly. "Claims,"
"It's true!"
"He did some very inappropriate things with two girls in class, at the same time, and neither noticed he was doing anything to the other!" James started laughing.
"Was that during the DADA lecture?" Frank asked.
"You were there?" Remus exclaimed in disgust.
"Yeah, I was wondering why those two girls were acting so squirmy! Your smirk should have told me, but I'm too used to it." Frank jokingly winked.
"Told you!" Sirius grinned, ignoring the jibe.
"Yeah yeah, you're the master of women." James rolled his eyes, handing Sirius a small pouch of coins.
"Thank you, I'm glad you can admit it without me having to light your trousers on fire." Sirius grinned.
"I had burns for days! You could have at least aimed at the bottom of my trousers!" James grumbled with a blush. The rest of the group let out loud bouts of laughter at his expense.
"What are you lot laughing about?" Alice asked. She was followed by Veronica and Lily.
"Sirius was just telling us-" James started, but was quickly interrupted by Veronica.
"Something vulgar I assume." She finished with a roll of her eyes.
"Can you read minds?" Peter asked seriously, if not a bit frightfully. Veronica rolled her eyes, as Lily broke out into fits of laughter. Alice giggled lightly at the scene, drawing Frank's undivided attention.
"Hello Alice, darling." Frank greeted fondly. "Care to take a stroll?" He asked with a not so subtle wink, making his girlfriend blush. Alice nodded her head and waved goodbye to her friends before swiftly exiting the portrait hole hand in hand with Frank.
"They are so darling, aren't they?" Lily mused with a fond smile. "I wish I had something like that." She sighed wistfully. James opened his mouth to speak. "No Potter, now shut up." Lily grumbled, causing James to close his mouth as his face grew redder.
"I know what you mean." Veronica replied thoughtfully. She suddenly broke out in a grin. "Imagine. Flying on the back of his broom. Running your fingers through his shaggy hair while snogging. Holding hands in the halls. Random gifts and compliments."
Lily sighed blissfully. "That would be excellent wouldn't it?"
"Do you think so?" Veronica asked, feigning ignorance. "I figured you wouldn't like that very much." Lily looked confused and taken aback.
"Why would you think that?" She asked.
"Oh, I don't know." Veronica continued in the same seemingly oblivious voice as before. "I guess it would probably be the tiny fact that if you took snogging of that list, why, could it be?" She nodded her head in a decisive fashion. "Why I do believe that would be the nice version of your and Potter's relationship right now!" Veronica then put on a look of mock gobsmacked while everyone began laughing. Well, everyone except Lily who was glaring.
"Me and Potter don't have a relationship." She humphed. "And it is nothing like what you described."
"Isn't it though?" Sirius added with a wolfish grin. "He loves giving you random gifts and compliments! And you two have ridden a broom together. And don't you remember the entire day you two spent together holding hands?" He inquired teasingly.
"No! I hate his gifts, and his compliments are always annoying spin offs of my name, or vulgar things about the rest of me." She glowered. "And that time on the broom was when he picked me up off the ground and took me on a hijacked joy ride!" She exclaimed, turning red as she remembered him laughing as she screamed for him to put her down, only to beg for him to hold on to her when she looked down. "And you lot put 24 hour-never-unsticks-guaranteed-for-a-laugh-Giddy's-Glue on both our hands! I swear someone should do a better job of trafficking what comes into the school from Zonko's." She grumbled.
"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much." Sirius said in a sing song voice.
"I am no-! You know Shakespear?" She asked. Sirius had to laugh at that.
"I am in Muggle Studies you know, you could give the class some credit even though you dropped it." He smirked.
"I'm just a bit surprised is all." She grumbled under her breath. Veronica couldn't help laughing at the exchange.
"Actually, Sirius is quite good at Muggle Studies." Veronica added.
"Almost as good as you." He teased.
"It's not a fair comparison." She said airily. He couldn't help but laugh as he saw her lips twitching. He liked this. Being her friend was different, nice even.
"Alright you two, enough flirting, besides Ronnie, don't you have to get ready to meet...Your date?" Lily supplied. Veronica rolled her eyes, but then smiled. It had been a week filled with dazed fantasies, and sudden bursts of worry.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Veronica replied trying for casual.
"Like you're not eager to see him." Lily teased. Sirius didn't know why, but suddenly he felt an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.
"Uh, I don't feel well." He said suddenly standing. "I think I need to see Pomfrey." He mumbled, making his way to the portrait hole.
"We'll take you, I need to be on my way any way." Veronica supplied helpfully, she and Sirius had been back to being acquaintances the next day, and were growing into friendly territory quickly. Lily looked apprehensive of the idea, knowing she would undoubtedly end up with Black in the end, seeing as the Hospital Wing was on the fourth floor and the Great Hall, where the two love birds were meeting, was located on the ground floor. Finally sighing in defeat, Lily accompanied her fellow Gryffindors out into the halls.
They walked in companionable silence, until they reached the fourth floor.
"Well, I'll just leave you two here, after all, don't want to be late." Veronica grinned, before running off.
"Uhh.." Sirius moaned.
"Come on Black, let's get you to the Hospital Wing." Lily said begrudgingly. She knew this would happen!
"Come on Evans, at least try to look cheerful." Lily looked at him reproachfully.
"Hey, I am not James." Sirius defended himself mock meekly against her glare.
"No, but you're just as bad." She replied.
"Come off it, we aren't bad, and you know it! You just have too much fun hating us." Sirius taunted lightly.
"Well, it is a rather simple pass time." She replied airily. "Especially with you guys making it so easy on me." She replied sarcastically.
"He just likes you, you know." Sirius replied, suddenly serious.
"So what do you think the root of your medical problem is?" She suddenly asked, not so subtly changing the subject.
"Smooth Evans." Sirius replied. "There is definitely a reason you didn't get sorted into Slytherin, you're as cunning as a baby rabbit." When she gave him a sturdy glare, he hastily recovered. "But if you must change the subject, then I will tell you I honestly have no clue as to where this little problem came from."
"Well, what's it feel like." She inquired.
"Well, I don't feel it now, but it doesn't feel like anything I've felt before. It's like a feeling in my stomach." He described with vague hand gestures.
"Hmm. That is odd. Does it feel like a stomach bug?" She asked.
"Maybe if that bug has wings." He replied. She laughed at that, and he smiled, glad to have gotten her distracted.
"You it comes and goes?" She asked.
"Yeah, it's weird." He said.
"Well, I'm sure Madam Pomfrey can help." Lily supplied.
"I guess we'll see soon enough." He shrugged, walking through the double doors, into the Wing.
There weren't any patients as far as they could tell, so Lily assumed Madam Pomfrey wasn't busy and made a bee line for her office. Sirius took the time alone to think about his new illness. He couldn't help but worry momentarily. Gryffindor he was, he couldn't shake the feeling that it could be potentially fatal. It was such an odd feeling in his gut. He had never felt any thing like it before. Just as he was really beginning to panic, Lily and Madam Pomfrey were upon him.
Madam Pomfrey ran her wand up and down his body several times, working intricate spells all around him. It seemed Lily had informed her that he had no clue what was wrong with him, because they all appeared to be diagnostic spells. After about ten minutes of colorful spell work, Madam Pomfrey had a frown on her face.
"I'm sorry , but I can't seem to find anything wrong with you." She concluded with a curious expression. "Perhaps if you could describe the feeling you are having?" She inquired.
"Well, I'm not having it right now." He started slowly. "It comes and goes. It's sort of painful, but nothing like getting hit by a bludger, it's sort of like a clenching in my stomach, but it also has a bit of a flutter to it. It's sort of hard to describe." He finished lamely.
"Well when did this all start?" Pomfrey continued.
"It was out of no where I'm telling you." Sirius began again. "I was just having a good laugh with my friends in the common room, the as always. I can't think of anything of significance that could have caused me any pain!" Sirius finished in frustration.
", perhaps you can shed some light on the situation?" Pomfrey tried to help.
"Oh I think I already know." She said grinning. "Don't worry though Madam Pomfrey, he's perfectly fine, a little thick, and very big headed, but he'll be all right." Lily concluded with a roll of her eyes.
"Oh?"
"Yes, I'm sorry to have bothered you." Lily replied, grabbing Sirius in the process. "Come on you idiot, let's go."
"Wait, what's wrong with me?" He asked as they exited the Hospital Wing.
"Nothing you moron, you're just jealous." She said. Sirius nearly fell into a suit of armor as the shock of those words tripped him.
"What?" He spluttered in incredulity.
"Oh please Black, don't be daft." She said with another roll of her eyes.
"I'm not being daft!" He snapped. He took a deep breath before continuing. "What do you mean I'm jealous?" He asked.
"I can't believe you are this pig headed! Have you honestly never been jealous before?" Lily asked.
"Of course I've been jealous." He scoffed.
"Oh really?" She pushed with a raised brow. "When has the great Sirius Black ever been jealous?" She matched his scoff.
"I know I'm near Godly Evans, but everyone has faults." He smirked. "I get jealous sometimes, it's only human."
"Like when." She pressed.
"I might tell you, if you promise to keep your rather loud mouth shut." He said still smirking. Lily humphed, and crossed her arms over her chest, but otherwise said nothing. "That's a good girl." He said patting her head fondly. Lily glared daggers into his skull. "Let's keep walking, shall we?" Sirius signaled with his head that they continue down the corridors. Lily kept up her glare, but continued walking as he suggested. "And don't pout love, it makes you look silly." He said with a chuckle. Lily growled.
"Alright alright, I've tortured you enough." He said, though now he was losing his joking mannerism. "I used to get jealous twice a year. When James would go home for Christmas, and when summer started. But I haven't felt like that in ages. I go to his house now during both vacations. Still." He continued, and Lily couldn't help but look at him with slightly wide, expectant eyes. "I do get a touch of the green eyed monster when I realize they aren't my real parents, there his." He said, though he didn't sound sad, or jealous at all. He sounded casual, and maybe a tad happy.
"You don't sound very jealous." Lily commented.
"Yeah, well, if they weren't his parents, he wouldn't be the best friend I've ever had." Sirius beamed.
"Yes, well, I'm not surprised. The two of you are quite the charming couple." Lily teased, trying hard to clear the tension she suddenly felt. Sirius laughed at the joke.
"You know Evans, you're not the first girl to say that. You are the first girl to say that without asking for a three way though." He snickered.
"Oh you are just unbelievable Sirius Black!" Lily said incredulously.
"Again, not the first girl to say that, but first girl to say it without being shagged senseless." He winked, and she rolled her eyes with a groan.
"You know, you are almost tolerable, but then you have to be disgusting." He barked his laughter at her comment.
"Ah, but that's my special charm!" He smirked.
"Incorrigible, simply incorrigible!" Still, she was laughing. Sirius was suddenly really glad to have Lily laughing with him. They continued there walk around the castle, laughing and teasing each other. It was almost like a sibling rivalry to see who could make the other laugh harder, while still making the joke slightly insulting.
"Oh Sirius, it's too much!" Lily gasped around laughs. "I can't take any more." She giggled uncontrolably.
"That's what she said." Sirius commented, making the both of them crack up. Suddenly he stopped laughing. "You called me Sirius." He sounded surprised, and he was.
"Oh, I guess I did." She said thoughtfully. "Do you mind?" She asked. "I mean, is it too odd?" She asked.
"Are you kidding? I can't wait to rub it in James' face that we're friends now." He smirked. "Hey, does this mean I can call you Lily?" He asked, positively beaming.
"Er, sure. I assumed you would if I was calling you Sirius..." She said with a raised brow. Sirius started snickering.
"He is going to be so jealous! Can I call you Lily flower? Just once? He may break my skull for doing it, but I think the look on his face may be worth it." He grinned.
"You are so immature." Lily said with a roll of her eyes.
"That wasn't a no~" Sirius replied in a sing song voice.
"Well the look on his face would be pretty priceless." Lily said with a wicked grin.
"Why , I do believe that is a smirk you are wearing!" Sirius said with mock indignation a scorning. "Wipe that look off your face right now, or it'll be House points off your head!" Lily nearly doubled over at the switched roles Sirius had created. Suddenly though she stopped laughing, as something caught her eye.
"Oh." She said lamely.
"What is it?" Sirius asked turning around to see what she was looking at. Suddenly that feeling was back and he felt sick. He let out a pained groan, and Lily's attention immediately fixed on Sirius. He looked like he had been kicked in the gut.
"Come on Sirius, let's go back to the common room." She said tugging his arm.
"I think I need the Hospital Wing, that feeling is back." He said, barley tearing his eyes away from the unsuspecting couple.
"I told you, you're not sick, you're just jealous." Lily said softly, leading him away by the hand. Sirius looked down cast and he simply trudged along behind her.
"I'm not jealous." He mumbled. "I don't have anything to be jealous for." He said firmly, well, as firmly as he could given the confusion and the feeling in his gut.
"I'm not going to tell anyone." Lily said, not looking at him. "We're friends now, and friends don't tell on friends." She said firmly, much more firmly than he had.
"Thanks." He mumbled. Lily didn't answer, but they both new she would keep his barely discovered secret. Before they reached the portrait hole, Sirius stopped them.
"I-I don't like her, you know." He mumbled, looking at his shoes. Lily sort of felt sorry for him, but she couldn't bring herself to lie to him.
"I wont tell anyone." She reassured him, forcing eye contact. "Now come on and don't look so sad, you're going to make your friends think you have something fatal." She joked. Sirius was suddenly all smiles again. He opened his mouth to say something, but Lily quickly interrupted.
"I'm already letting you have Lily flower, I'm not going to help you trick the rest of your idiot bunch into thinking you have a fatal disease!" She said with a McGonagall worthy stare.
"Fine." He said with an over dramatic sigh of defeat. The two made there way through the portrait hole laughing.
Later that night the Marauders were sitting around the fire, begrudgingly doing homework with Lily. They were just in the middle of discussing possible solutions to the problem in Peter's potions essay, when the portrait hole opened up revealing a sappy, smiling, Veronica. She let out a blissful sigh as she took a seat between Sirius and Lily on the couch.
"Fun date I presume?" Lily asked rhetorically.
"Oh it was amazing Lily!" Veronica gushed. Lily realized she had opened the flood gates. "So I found out his name is Derek, and he's in Hufflepuff. He's so sweet, and he took me to the most wonderful place!" She beamed. Lily was suddenly caught between her curiosity and happiness for her old friend, and her consideration and pity for her new one.
"Really?" She said helpless to do anything else.
"It was wonderful! He took me on a fly around the grounds, and he had a picnic prepared at the end in the center of the Forbidden Forest! I know it's risky, but it was the most beautiful and secluded spot." She sighed.
"Oh Ronnie, that sounds lovely." Lily replied in typical girl fashion, though her eyes held inexplicable sympathy.
"It was Lily, it really, really was. I can't wait to out with him again." Veronica squealed in a very girlish was that non of the Marauders had ever heard from her.
"He asked you out for another date?" Lily inquired.
"Don't sound so surprised. With the snog I gave him on our way back to the commons I'm surprised he didn't ask me to be his girlfriend." Veronica responded with a wink. Though it was more Veronica than the squeal, Lily couldn't help the small flinch she felt. Suddenly there was a crash as Sirius stood up abruptly and flipped the table, spilling inkwells, and scattering papers. He let out a growl, looked angrily down at Veronica, opened his mouth, closed it, let out a frustrated yell, and stormed off up to his dorm.
"What's got his knickers in a twist?" Ronnie asked jokingly.
"Who knows?" James looked puzzled. "I should go check on him." He made to get up, but suddenly Lily was on her feet.
"No, wait, I'll go." She said quickly, looking very suspicious.
"You?" The question came from her right. Veronica looked just as puzzled as James.
"Er, because, um, I-I think I know what this is about." She finished feeling awfully dumb.
"Well whatever it is, I'm sure Sirius would want his best friend there." Veronica responded reasonably.
"Yes, well, while that may be true, I'm pretty sure I'm the one who should deal with it, it's um, sort of my fault."
"Your fault?" Veronica looked surprised. "What did you do?"
"I asked the wrong question." Lily mumbled, but before she could give another person the chance to comment, she rushed up the stairs to the boys dorm.
When she entered the first thing she noticed was that the room was a mess. For a minute she wanted to comment on the pig sty, when she realized it was only a mess because Sirius was throwing things around the room.
"Sirius!" Lily chastised. "Stop this instant." He turned toward her and glared.
"I'll cast a reparo when I'm done." He said as if it were the perfect solution.
"That's not the point!" Lily exclaimed.
"Well I'm angry!" He yelled.
"Sirius, I'm so sorry, but please calm down."
"What have you got to be sorry for? It's not your fault this feeling is driving me insane. It's not your fault that her date with was spectacular. Hell, it's not even your fault that we saw them kissing. It's my fault. It's my fault. It's all my fault." He groaned sitting on one of the beds.
"Come off it, it's not your fault at all!" Lily exclaimed.
"Oh yes it is." Sirius said surly, standing suddenly to pace. "I shouldn't even be aloud to be...that word." He finished with a small shudder. "There's no reason for me to. I'm not her brother, I'm not here to feel protective. I'm not her boyfriend. Hell, I'm not even her actual friend. We're just acquaintances. Friends of mutual friends who occasionally interact. Hell, before this year I was her enemy. And whose fault is that? Mine." He said sullenly. "I don't even like her half the time!" He exclaimed, once again falling onto a bed.
Lily slowly approached him, silently taking a seat beside him. "We aren't children any more Sirius. Times are changing quickly, we're in the middle of a world crisis, heading straight into war. Feelings change quickly, people change quickly. To be honest, half the reason it was easy for us to become friends today, and for us to talk now, is because in a way this is the easy stuff, because one day you and I will probably be fighting beside each other, and I want our side to win. Sirius, if we are friends now, then that makes us on the same side. I want you to win." She finished.
"I have nothing to win! That's the real problem! I want to win a game I'm not even playing." His frustration was bringing him to inner tears.
"Than maybe you need to think about what you want to win, and then choose your game." She said rising. She pulled out her wand and flicked it about the room till everything was neat and clean.
"I best be going, it's getting late." She said. "Good luck Sirius."
"Good night Lily pad." He grinned.
"You used it without James being here!" She grinned.
"No, I used Lily pad for myself, I still get my Lily flower tomorrow." He replied with a wicked grin and a wink.
"Incorrigible!" She called over her shoulder as she exited, making him laugh.
Lily and Veronica spent the remainder of the night giggling over Veronica's new beau. Veronica gave her all the details, and Lily sighed and grinned and cheered in all the right places, and when Alice came in to join them, the giggling continued. When they were all in bed, Lily and Alice both asleep, Veronica sat with her curtains closed, going through her date again in private. She was so happy.
Across the way, in the boys dorm, Sirius was tossing and turning. He had told the rest of the Marauders that his explosion was due to pent up frustration from earlier, but wouldn't give them details, insisting it was between him and Lily (which of course made James squirm). As he listened to the gentle snoring of his dorm mates, he couldn't help lying there and going over what he had felt in the hall when he had seen them kissing. The feeling in his gut clenched again, fueling his frustration. He didn't like her! He insisted to himself. It had to be something else. For one second, just before he fell asleep, when his subconscious and his conscious were switching places, Sirius had a thought. If I like her she'll hate me.
Weeeelll? I know it moved a bit too fast, which is something that I really hate in other stories, so feel free to bash it in reviews, but I included the whole thing Lily said to sort of explain why. I always imagined that even though Lily and the Marauders fought up until 7th year, that in the end they began to form a necessary alliance quickly, and that the JamesxLily relationship didn't come until something sudden and drastic happens. I just can't see them having the time to over think things like friendships and relationships. It's sort of an all or nothing thing, you know? Well review please!