***Hey guys, so first I have to apologize to you all for not writing a new chapter for so long. I got kind of stuck with this story, and I didn't know where to go with it. I hope you like this chapter, and I hope you will forgive me for making you wait for three years.

Chapter Twelve: A Nice Place to Nap

"Tired today, Lily?" Alice asked with a bemused look on her face.

"Yes, as a matter of fact." I replied as I pulled the cork out of the glass bottle in my hand. "What gave it away?"

"Well, you're pouring pomegranate juice into your cauldron."

"So?"

"It's supposed to be salamander blood."

"Oh bugger." I said, jerking my hand back. A small stream of clear red liquid splashed onto the table instead of into my nearly finished cauldron of Soothing Solution.

"I take it you had a late night?" Frank asked as he chopped a chunk of ginger.

"Quite late. I- yawn -got back from Astronomy and had some bizzare dreams." I looked to my left to see an equally exhausted James. "You look like you had a late night as well, James."

James turned to me as he stirred his potion and gave me a half smile. "I never actually got to the sleeping part. I had to attend to a few necessary nocturnal activities."

"Awww yeah!" Frank whistled as Alice and I rolled our eyes. But when I glanced at Remus' empty seat, I couldn't help but wonder of the exact details of Potter's sleepless night. As I turned to adjust the heat on my potion, I noticed Severus staring at Remus' stool. I fixed my face into a tired but relatively neutral expression as I ignored the fact that we were ignoring each other.

Dinner was slightly disappointing, as James had skipped off with nothing more than a cornbeef sandwich and the promise of an early bedtime. However, eight thirty brought the promise of a lot of alone time with one fine specimen of Hufflepuff.

I met Prometheus a few minutes before our planned meeting time, and after a quick explanation as to the "new and improved" patrol route, we were off.

Patrolling the corridors was just as boring as it sounded, consisting mainly of walking around the school and preventing petty fights and broom closet shags.

For the first few minutes we were silent, but soon Prometheus broke the ice by asking me about my classes. The conversation about school continued on for a bit, then the topic changed to jobs, then shops, then music and the Muggle world. Prometheus, being a pure-blood, was amazed by the simplest things that I would consider to be normal, like pens and refrigerators. I was also surprised to find that he was a huge fan of Muggle music.

"I know a lot of Muggle artists like The Beatles and Elton John, but that's just because they're so good that they're played on the Wizard Wireless Radio. Channel 99 is all Muggle music, you know!"

I laughed. "Finally, someone who listens to Muggle music! Where have you been all of my life?"

He looked at the ground as his cheeks turned pink. "Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing." Our eyes met and he gave me a shy smile.

CRASH!

Prometheus and I ran down the corridor towards the noise. We stopped in front of a door and nervously looked at each other. As Prometheus reached for the doorknob, another smaller crash sounded inside of the room. With a flash he pulled the door open.

"Oi, can't a person get any privacy in this school?"

"Sirius?" I stood there open-mouthed, my wand held limply at my side as I stared into the broom cupboard. Sirius turned toward the doorway as a Hufflepuff girl behind him frantically attempted to button her blouse closed.

"Merlin!" Prometheus' eyes fell upon the girl. He looked to the ground and put a hand over his eyes. "Is that you, Regina? What in Merlin's name are you doing?"

"Well, I'd think it was pretty obvious," Sirius smirked, winking at Regina, "Wouldn't you say so, love?"

Regina looked at Prometheus with embarrassment and, giving up on trying to button herself, pulled the sides of her shirt tightly together and folded her arms across her chest. Biting her bottom lip she turned to Sirius. "I think I'm just going to leave now. See you later?"

Sirius grinned down at her and pecked her on the lips. "Of course, love. We have to finish what we started."

Blushing, Regina pushed past Sirius and out of the cupboard. As she passed Prometheus (who was still determinedly staring at the ground) she nodded at him "See you in Charms, Theo."

I was too stunned to do anything but look from Regina's retreating figure to Sirius' grinning face. Sirius pulled down the ends of his shirt, smoothing out the wrinkles caused by Regina's hands, and stepped nimbly from the cupboard without closing the door. As he looked down at me I could tell from his expression that he was going to say one of those stupid, smart-ass one-liners that always got him in detention.

"I sincerely apologize for what you had to witness there, Lily," Sirius said, his face solemn before it spread into a wicked grin, "but honestly, do you know how many Snog N' Shag cupboards there are in this castle that you and Prometheus here could have tried besides this one, which was, if I might say, obviously taken?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because the only place a girl would snog you would be hidden in a closet."

Prometheus glared at Sirius with a mixture of disapproval and embarrassment. "That was out of line, Black. Hasn't anyone ever taught you your manners? No matter, you can learn them on Saturday night while you're in detention. How does that sound?"

Sirius just yawned and began to walk backwards down the corridor. "Wonderful, darling. Shall I bring the candles?"

Prometheus scoffed. "Watch it, Black, or we can meet on Sunday night as well."

With a thumbs up and a wink Sirius turned the corner and was gone.

"Ooooh, he's just insufferable." I glared at the spot where Sirius had vanished. Turning to Prometheus, I gave him an apologetic smile. "He's so damn cocky that everything just bounces off of him."

Prometheus shook his head. "That was just awful. Tomorrow is going to be the most awkward day of my life. I've known Regina since we were kids. We live in the same town." He put a hand to his forehead. "Merlin."

I patted his shoulder. "It'll be okay."

He smiled at me and put his hands in his pockets. "We should probably get back to patrolling."

We walked back down the corridor and continued our patrol. As we strolled along, a question formed in my mind.

"So Prometheus, or Theo, can I call you Theo?" Prometheus laughed and nodded. "Well, Theo, you told me that I'm a candidate for Head Girl next year. If you don't mind me asking, who is the other girl they're considering?"

"I would absolutely love to tell you your competition, but Hermita would kill me." Theo shrugged. "She actually told me that, too."

"No problem" I sighed. "But I guess it wouldn't be fair of me to get a leg up on the competition."

When I climbed through the portrait hole into the empty Gryffindor common room, I fully intended on going straight to bed. As I put my foot on the first step of the girls staircase I felt a small something brush my side.

"What the- Oh come on! " I muttered as I saw a very small first year boy run a few more steps before falling on his knees and sliding to my feet as the staircase turned to a smooth stone slide. "What are you doing, you know boys aren't allowed up there! I'm a prefect, you know, you can't do things like this when I'm around." I spun as I heard a spurt of laughter behind me.

"Splendid performance, Edwin." Macy giggled. She poked her head up from behind an overstuffed couch.

"My pleasure, Miss." Edwin said with a grin. "Now, about my compensation,"

A silver Sickle flew through the air from behind a high-backed chair. Edwin caught the coin with both hands as the chair spun dramatically, revealing a grinning Sirius Black. "Good lad," Sirius said as Edwin ran up the stairs to the boys dormitories. "He's got promise, I can tell you that. Now, Lily dear, why don't you tell us about your lovely romp around the castle with that dashing git of a Hufflepuff."

"First of all, he's not a git. Second of all, why do you even care, it's not like it was a date or anything."

"Fine, tosser and romantic outing, it's all semantics." Sirius said with a wave of his hand.

"I can't believe you two paid an eleven year old to do that."

Macy giggled again. "Well it worked, didn't it? You're talking to us instead of flopping into bed. So just tell us!"

I scowled at the two of them. "It was fine, thanks. Theo is a very nice, interesting person."

"Theo? My, my, my, how chummy. And nice? Interesting?" Sirius shook his head. "You could just call him boring, you know."

"But he wasn't!"

"If he wasn't boring you would have more to say than a generic "nice and interesting". Sirius said pointedly. He rose from his chair and stretched his arms to the ceiling. "Well, that's all I need to know." He said after a yawn. "I'll see you lovely ladies in the morning."

I folded my arms over my chest and stared at his retreating figure. "He's unbelievable." I said once he disappeared up the spiral staircase.

"Unbelievably hot." Macy sighed.

I shook my head and followed her up to bed. I was too tired to say anything more.

Unfortunately, this became a semi-permanent pattern in my life, as Prefect duties, astronomy classes, and the overall advanced nature of N.E.W.T. courses sucked up more hours in the day than I would have preferred. It seemed that for the next four weeks, "tired" was my trademark emotion.: I yawned every other word, I dozed during lunch. Dark circles were now permanently inked under my eyes, like eyeliner gone wrong. I was surprised that I hadn't been mistaken for a vampire yet.

The only one who "woke me up", so to speak, was the insufferably attractive James Potter. I knew he couldn't fancy me now; after all, lately I had more in common with a zombie than a teenage girl. But every Astronomy class was a secret pleasure.

We didn't exactly flirt, but we also didn't act as "just mates". It frustrated me to no end, because for once in his life Potter was not flirtatious enough. His actions had a leg on both sides of the border, so to speak. Either he was purposely holding back, or I was just an idiot when it came to subtle flirting.

Or maybe he just wasn't interested in me like that anymore.

Let's be real, it was probably all of those.

After one particularly long Astronomy class, where we were required to chart the locations of a distant star cluster using the Fortignoculars in relation to the position of the moons of Saturn, I found myself in the Gryffindor common room, sitting on a couch in front of the warm, roaring fire, with James Potter's head on my shoulder.

"What are you doing?" I said, shrugging him away more out of habit than anything.

"I'm soooo buggered, Lily." He yawned and stretched his arms above his head, his chest straining against the buttons of his white shirt. I found myself hoping that they would pop off of that slightly too-tight shirt before I shook the image from my head. "What time is it? It's got to be at least five in the morning."

"It's three thirty-seven, actually" I yawned back. "But we've got to get this essay done. We still need to write about the magical implications of the distance of these stupid stars to eleven more moons."

"Can't we do it in the morning?" James said. He leaned away from me and put his gorgeous head on the threadbare arm of the couch.

"We've got classes, and I have Prefect duty, and you have Quidditch practice, and there's no time like the present, as they say."

"Whatever you say, darling." James mumbled. I poked him in the side to keep him from nodding off.

"Sleep later, James." I said. "I need your brain fully conscious and functioning for a bit longer, okay?"

We worked for half an hour, though it seemed to be ten times that long. I laid my wet parchment carefully to the floor and sagged back into the comfort of the couch. I could have dried the ink with magic, but I was so tired I didn't' trust myself. It would only take a few minutes for the fire to dry it, after all. James followed my suit, and laid his head once more on my shoulder. This time I didn't shrug it away.

"We have to be awake in less than four hours," I groaned.

James sighed, "Just enough time for a nap. Do you know what this couch is good for?"

"Please don't get gross."

"Naps." James said into my shoulder. His breath tickled my neck in a way that was not unpleasant. "N-A-P-S. Not sexy time, you dirty-minded minx. This couch – yawn – is a nice place for naps A prime location for naps. One of the best."

I closed my eyes, which I knew was probably a Very Bad Idea. "Is it now?" I mumbled. "Do you have a lot of nap experience? Have you napped in so many different places that you know this particular couch is the best?"

"Believe it, love." James mumbled back.

And I was gone. The couch was too comfy and the fire was too warm and my eyes were too heavy and the hair on the head on my shoulder was too soft. I didn't wake up when I slid to my side, or when James slid with me, or when a blanket was draped over us by the gentle touch of a house elf, or when some time in the middle of the night my fingers found their way into the warm hand of James Potter.

******So, my lovely readers, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I don't know why it took me this long to write. Hopefully I will get better at not making you wait for years and years. Sorry, my loves.