Chapter 12

May 20th 1976

Sirius' POV

It was hard focusing on the instructions Professor Binns was going over for our final exams. Especially when my mind was on Quidditch, we were playing for the cup tomorrow against Ravenclaw, and boy was it going to be tough.

"Ouch" I whispered after being beamed in the head with a quill. I immediately turn to face Avery trying to hide a huge grin. "What was that for?"

"Pay attention, I can't help you on this test." She said pointing to the board.

"I just can't" I complained, adding an over dramatic sigh.

"Well you'll have to or Minnie won't let you play tomorrow, and that means James will have to replace you."

"That won't happen, besides James can't replace me, I'm his best mate." I stated with a matter of fact tone.

"Now if you will please put everything away except for your wand and quill," Professor Binns announced levitating our tests out. "Let the tests begin."

Normal POV

The seventh year Gryffindors made their way out of the history of magic class and onto their last exam of the year potions.

"I'm going to fail, it's going to be horrible and I won't be able to become a healer." Avery whined as James and Sirius pulled her to the dungeons.

"You'll do fine Avery, and besides I heard we get partners for this exam so it should be even easier." Remus assured her following close behind.

"I hope I don't get paired with a nasty Slytherin or if so I hope it isn't your cousin Avery" Lily added as they waited at the front of the room to be seated.

"I want everyone to take a deep breath and relax, today's exam shouldn't be too difficult, after all you are my newt level potions, and not everyone could make it this far." Professor Slughorn said before splitting every one into pairs.

"I want Malfoy and Black sitting here, Lucius not you Avery. Then Lupin and Nikki Rosser behind them." He said pointing to pairs of students directing them to their seats. "Potter and Addie Rosser over there, and Laura Crawford and Avery Malfoy in the back."

If Avery didn't hate the walrus of a professor before she certainly did now. How could he sit her next to Laura she'd rather be stuck between a group of Slytherins?

"Now I want you all to read over the instructions in your books carefully and understand them fully before starting your potion I have assigned a page to each table, you all may begin."

Avery read over her instructions, her and Laura we're to be making a simple healing potion; luckily Avery had experience with making this potion for Remus and quidditch practices. She made her way to pick up the ingredients nudging Sirius' elbow on the way to the cupboards.

"Hey what was that for?" he asked, she only replied by rolling her eyes.

Once back to her and Laura's station she began heating up the cauldron.

"Are you sure you're doing that right?" Laura asked picking at her nail.

"Yes, I'm sure this wouldn't be the first time I've made this" Avery said stirring the water. "Here crush these." She said handing Laura some roots.

After an hour and a half Slughorn cleared his throat to get the classes attention. "Now I'm sure you all did wonderful, please bottle your potion and leave it at your station, before leaving."

Avery poured their potion, which she was, surprise Laura actually helped with into a vial and left it before grabbing her belongings and catching up to Lily and James.

"So what do the love birds have planned for this afternoon?" she asked.

"Well, I have quidditch practice, as well as Sirius and the rest of the team, Ravenclaw is quiet good this year." James answered.

"Actually Avery I was wondering if you wanted to spend a few hours in the dorm with me, Chassidy, and Laura?" Lily asked.

"That sounds nice and all, but I'm not so sure I want to spend an evening with Laura," Avery said cringing at the sound of Laura's name.

"Please for Chassidy and I, I mean we haven't spent any time together in awhile, will you please consider?"

"Fine I'll join you for your girls night," Avery sighed in defeat.

"Great, come on lets go." Lily said dragging Avery away.

"Good luck James, can't wait till the game tomorrow" Avery called back to him.

Avery's POV

So far Lily's girl's night was going alright; I actually wasn't bothered by Laura so much, for once. We were all sitting on the floor surrounded by magazines, nail polish, make up and food.

"How about we play truth or dare?" Lily suggested.

"Sure" we all agreed.

"Alright I want to go first, Laura truth or dare?" Chassidy asked.

"Truth."

"Is it true that in 1st year you had a crush on Peter?"

"Yes," Laura admitted blush rising in her cheeks. "Alright, Lily truth or dare?"

"Truth" Lily answered.

"Is it true, that you're still a virgin?"

"No" she answered looking at her lap.

"Was it James?" Chassidy asked.

"No, we haven't done that yet, it was in fifth year with some muggle boy who was visiting family down my street." Lily said, her face turning the color of her hair.

"Okay on with the game, Lily it's your turn." Chassidy interrupted seeing how embarrassed Lily was. "Truth"

"How many guys have you slept with?" Lily asked, "Sorry I've just always wondered."

"Five," she answered. "Avery, truth or dare?"

"I'm going to go with dare" I answered already regretting my decision from the look on her face.

"I dare you to go profess your everlasting love to James, if it's alright with Lily." Chassidy asked.

"Of course, I think it will be entertaining, especially since he's asleep right now." Lily said noting the time, which was 3am.

"Alright, who's going with me?" I asked." Okay, we'll be back." I answered heading to the boy's dorm.

I made my way through the piles of clothes over to James' bed and pulled open the curtains. Lily and I tried our best holding our laughter from seeing his seeker boxers and even more tousled hair. Unfortunately we couldn't and it woke Remus up.

"What are you two doing?" he asked rubbing his eyes.

"Playing truth or dare, watch it should be priceless." Lily said turning her camera on record and hiding in the bathroom.

I slowly nudged James' shoulder, "James, James, wake up I have something I need to tell you."

"Hmm, what? Is everything alright?" he asked sitting up.

"James, I think I'm in love with you." I said grabbing his hand, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Are you drunk? You remember I'm with lily right?" he said pulling his hand away.

"I'm drunk on the passionate love I have for you" I said throwing myself on him kissing his cheeks.

"Avery, we can't do this" he said trying his best to push me off.

"Lily won't find out, I promise it will be our little secret."

"Avery, get the fuck off!" he yelled causing the other two boys to wake up and me to fall to the floor.

I began fake crying, hoping he would fall for it.

"What's going on?" Sirius asked walking over to me. "Avery, are you alright?"

"Look Avery, I'm sorry we can't be together, I can't hurt Lily like that you understand right?" James said rubbing my shoulder. "Look maybe if things were different; don't cry I do care about you."

I couldn't hold my laughter in anymore, I had real tears running down my face now and my sides were hurting. "Holy shit, you should've seen the look on your face."

"What? Who else is in here?" James asked hearing laughing from the bathroom, "Lily" he said opening the door, "What the hell is going on?"

"We were playing truth or dare and that was Avery's dare." She said between giggles.

"Oh I knew she was faking all along" he said nervously scratching the back of his head.

"Sure you did love, sure you did" I said kissing him on the cheek good night.

"Hey, can we get a few goodnight kisses as well?" Remus, Peter, and Sirius asked.

So one after another all were kissed on the cheeks by Lily and I before we left to go show the girls the video. When we got to the dorm the others were already passed out.

"Avery that was great, really I almost believed you for a second there." Lily whispered not to wake anyone up.

"I could never do that to anyone, especially not you, you're one of my closest friends." I reassured her before falling asleep myself.

"Good night Avery" she said shutting off the light.

"Good night Lily."

"Avery, its time to go, come on wake up!" Lily shouted hiting me with her pillow.

"I'm up, I'm up," I begged, "but I don't want to be."

"We're going to be late, and then James and Sirius will murder us both." Lily answered pulling me out of bed and into the bathroom.

"When did you become so strong?" I asked straitening my hair with my fingers.

"Over the years" she said "you're wearing these" she yelled from our room, "and with this."

I walked over my bed to see the wardrobe she pulled out for me. It was the pair of gorgeous boots my aunt had gotten me from France, they only just happened to have four inch heels which is why I never wore them. Lily had also pulled out my sleeveless wool jumper dress.

"Lily it's a little too cold to be wearing a sleeveless jumper don't you think?" I asked.

"Well, duh that's what tights and sweaters are for." She answered throwing a pair of thick black tights and my Gryffindor sweater at me. "Now hurry up."

I quickly did as she asked, because I knew just as well as the next person James and Sirius would kill us for missing the game or even being late, but I was more worried at what Lily would do if we were late or missed the game.

"Lily I'm going to break my neck in these heels." I whined.

"Aren't Malfoys born in heels?" she joked.

"Yes, but I pulled mine off and went barefoot." I smiled buckling the side of the boot.

"Finally, now let's go." She said dragging me down to the pitch.

We easily found Remus who was saving us seats; unfortunately the game had already begun.

"Avery, you better hope they do well, or I'm going to hex you so bad you won't sleep for a week." Lily threatened.

"Of course they'll do fine they've been practicing almost all night, for a week now."

And they were doing fine Gryffindor was in the lead 15-5 and on their way to scoring again.

"And Gryffindor Scores another goal!" the announcer bellows to the crowd.

We Gryffies cheered as the Slytherins and Ravenclaws booed. I watched as James punched the air in satisfaction and I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. Sirius flew by and blew a kiss to Laura and waved to the rest of us. Everything right now was perfect, James and Lily were happy together, Sirius and Laura, Remus and Chassidy, and even I was happy, I had my friends and that's all I needed. I sighed to myself as the announcer screamed over the crowd that the snitch had been spotted. Everyone was silent watching the two seekers go after the tiny golden ball.

"And Gryffindor wins the quidditch cup!" he announced as James clutched the snitch in his hand thrusting it into the air for all to see.

The Gryffindors emerged from the stands to congratulate their team. The team was hoisted onto the shoulders of the crowd and carried up to the castle. The team members went and showered and the rest of the house prepared the common room for the party that would start after dinner.

"That was an amazing game today" Lily told James as she kissed him.

"Thanks Lils"

"Congratulations" I said to both James and Sirius hugging them. "I can't wait for the party. It should be the best we've had all year."

"No the best of the year is next week, my birthday parties are always huge." Sirius commented grabbing Laura's hand.

"Are you coming to dinner Avery?" Laura asked, yes Laura and I we're getting along better after last night, we decided for Lily's and Sirius' sake we'd be friendly.

"Yeah, I'm just going to change it's a little hot in here." I said leaving for the dorm room.

I changed into a pair of black jeans and a grey cardigan and traded my boots for a nice pair of flats. I entered the common room to find Sirius waiting on the couch.

"Why aren't you at dinner?" I asked.

"I wanted to wait for my best friend, is that all right?" he said moving to stand next to me.

"Of course, I was only curious."

"I wanted to thank you." He said. "I know you don't like Laura much, but I respect the effort you're putting into being nice to her."

"She's growing on me," I admitted. "Now can we please go get some food?"

"Of course" he laughed leading the way to the great hall. "We are still camping out tonight right?"

"Why wouldn't we, it's a tradition now, and being the pure bloods we are we can't break tradition." I said laughing.

"You're right, being the pure bloods we are." He said bursting with laughter.

I sat next to James and Remus, as Sirius sat next to Laura and peter.

"What took so long?" Laura asked.

"I told you I was waiting for Avery, and you being a girl should know how long you take to change."

"True, well I just thought you got lost or something."

Our group of friends all laughed at this, "Honey, Sirius black doesn't get lost."

"So that was a brilliant game today" Lily announced.

"You've said that about thirty times now, since the game that was just fifteen minutes ago." I told her, fixing my plate with delicious food.

"So is it agreed we all get completely smashed tonight?" Sirius asked raising his glass.

"Of course" James and Peter agreed raising their glasses.

"Why not?" I said raising my glass as well.

"I'm good" Remus and Lily answered clinking their two glasses together.

"Yes" Laura and Chassidy agreed, all of us clinking are glasses together some of them including mine breaking.

"Oops" I laughed.

Once we all were finished eating we went to the common room; to do just what we said we were going to do, get totally smashed.

The music in the common room was blaring and everyone was dancing, cups and bottles in hand. It was fun just to watch, but I was sure it would be more fun to join.

"Hey can I get some fire whiskey over here?" I asked the self acclaimed bartender.

"Yeah, here" she said tossing it to me.

I quickly emptied the bottle and made my way to the dance floor. I fell in love with dancing after attending my first Hogwarts party, I can't understand why anyone wouldn't. I was dancing with one of the chasers when I was tapped on the shoulder by James.

"May I steal a dance?" he asked offering his hand.

"Lily might see" I joked about seeing her waving to me from the corner giving me the okay.

"I'm sure she won't mind" he answered blowing her a kiss.

We began dancing to the slow song that had come on.

"He has a girlfriend you know" James said placing his hands on my waist.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Sirius"

"I know this, I was there." I said giving James a confused look.

"But did you know that he cares about you?" James smiled.

"I would hope so, he has been telling me I'm his best friend for some time now"

"Well duh he cares about you that way, but I meant more like how he thinks he cares about Laura." James said practically slapping himself on the forehead.

"James I think you've had a little to much to drink, and I haven't had enough to believe you, it was great dancing with you but Lily looks lonesome." I lied pulling away.

"But Avery…" luckily I had lost him before he could finish his sentence I really didn't need this right now.

I grabbed a few more fire whiskeys from the bartender and quickly drank them down, finally I had the feeling I wanted. I was beginning to get a bit tired but decided against it, so I went in search of Chassidy and Lily.

"There you are?" Lily said as I approached, "James thought he'd pissed you off and is worried sick."

"No, he just is drunk and isn't thinking clearly, but I wasn't upset by it, I just wanted something more to drink" I answered half truthfully honestly I just didn't want to hear it.

"Oh alright then, lets dance" Chassidy said pulling Lily and I to the middle of the dance floor, where we danced for hours it seemed; In reality it was two and a half hours.

"Alright, I'm done with dancing forever" Chassidy said as we took a break.

"I agree not forever but for tonight, I'm ready for sleep." I answered dragging myself up to the dorm with the other two girls.

"Where do you go on the second weekend of every month?" Lily asked me as I packed my satchel with my pajamas and clothes for tomorrow.

"Camping, with Sirius" I answered fixing my shoe and tucking Lily and Chassidy in.

"Why?" Chassidy yawned.

"Well since Christmas we haven't spent much time together so we decided that we would make time just for the two of us, that's what I would do if any of us got distracted with school or guys." I answered taking a leave. "Goodnight girls."

"That's so sweet of him" I heard Lily say as I shut the door.

Once out on the grounds I saw that the area had already been set up though this time he brought his tent.

"It's a bit chilly and I figured while I had the time I could actually set up camp, I brought sleeping bags too." Sirius said staring out over the lake.

"It's lovely, but won't people notice a tent?"

"No, too hung over" he said taking a sip from a bottle of fire whiskey.

I climbed in the tent and changed into my pajamas and crawled out next to him.

"What are we going to do this summer?" he asked not taking his eyes off the water.

"I guess we could find some where near James' house to camp, if you wanted?"

"Of course, I was afraid you wouldn't want to still camp over the summer" he said wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "If I wasn't so drunk I think it would be really pretty out tonight, but right now it looks like a mass of purple and black."

"I know what you mean, though I do see the moon clear as well the moon." I laughed throwing myself into a coughing fit.

"So has Dumbledore told you anymore about your birth parents?" Sirius asked patting me on the back.

"He said my dad lives in Rhode Island, and that since my mother is dead that her memory charms should've died of as well." I answered standing up.

"That's good, which means he'll know you exist."

"I'm planning on going there this summer, I'm sure he'll want to meet me."

"I wouldn't expect less of you, but its quiet dangerous so I will be accompanying you on your journeys." Sirius said holding the tents entrance open.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." I told him as I yawned.

"You want to hear something funny?" he asked, as we crawled into our sleeping bags.

"Yeah?" I said zipping mine up.

"James' has this idea that I love you, I mean I do but not like that"

"Yeah he was telling me that too, I'm sorry Sirius I love you but I'm not in love with you; remember I only have eyes for James." I said laughing as Sirius threw his pillow at me laughing also.

"Hey, can I get that back?" he asked getting up and closing the zipper on my sleeping bag that I had given up on.

"Yeah here" I said chucking it across the room onto his sleeping bag as he turned off the lights.

"Good night Avers," he said placing a kiss on my forehead.

"Good night Siri."

I feel asleep to the thought of pain I would be in tomorrow morning, and how I lied to Sirius. I do love him as a friend, but I'm also in love with him, and I don't only have eyes for James, because they are far too focused on him. Though I didn't really lie, because I didn't realize any of this until the moment his lips left my forehead.

Shit, I'm in love with my best friend and this time it's Sirius not James, and I'm not saying it because of a dare, it's completely the truth. Next year is going to be one hell of a school year.

Sorry it took so long, but we finally have internet so updates will be much sooner. I would love a review I haven't gotten any lately, and it's kind of disappointing. Hope you enjoyed it.

Hannah