Sirius

Lily gave James a withering look and stalked off. Sirius exchanged a panicky glance with James and then hurried off down the corridor after her.

"Lily! Wait! Hey, Lily!"

She relented and stopped so that he could catch up with her, then she resumed her furious pace. Sirius had to jog to keep up.

"What's the matter? I thought-"

"What's the matter? What's the matter?" Lily laughed angrily. "Only the fact that James Potter is the stupidest, most annoying little boy in the whole of Hogwarts and won't leave me alone for more than a minute! And you!"

She swung around and pointed at Sirius accusingly. He got a face-full of her coppery hair and, despite his perilous situation, couldn't help noticing that it smelt of fresh cinnamon and vanilla.

"You dumped me!" She was nearly shouting. "You left me to that prick and you promised that you were going to tutor me!"

Sirius stepped backwards a couple of paces. "I was in detention!" he said desperately.

"So you couldn't stay out of trouble for one day?" She looked disappointed, shaking her head, which was even worse. Sirius felt guilty for having pulled such a low trick on her. He felt like owning up but eyed her fierce expression and decided that now was not the time.

"I'm really sorry. I thought that it would be nice." Sirius was shocked when her fury crumpled and put her face in her hands. "No-please don't be upset- I didn't mean to upset you..." Sirius was never very tactile or sensitive so he ended up patting her back awkwardly.

"It wasn't nice!" she said, rubbing her face tiredly with her hands. "I just can't deal with him. This is really important to me. I thought you knew that." She removed her hands and stared at him, stony-faced. "You should have cancelled the session. You know that I hate James Potter, so I don't expect him to show his face for our tutoring time again." She started walking again. Sirius just nodded and fell into step with her.

"Sorry." He said quietly, and relaxed when her emerald eyes flitted to him and she smiled, her cheeks still pink from her outburst. "We can do a session tomorrow. I have a free period in the morning," he said hopefully, but she shook her head.

"Maybe after dinner, I'm so busy tomorrow," she said, and Sirius nodded. "And I could do a Charms session on Friday?"

"That would be amazing!" said Sirius, wishing it were tomorrow already.

The more Sirius thought about James' failure, the angrier he got. Why couldn't he just be nice to her? He dared to make a rude hand gesture at Peeves and paid dearly when Peeves chased him down the corridor, pelting him with chalk.

He met James, Remus and Peter in the Gryffindor common room that evening, still frustrated with James and the fact that everything had somehow gone wrong.

"Well done, Prongs," said Sirius sarcastically, as he walked over to where the other Marauders were sitting. "One chance and you blew it."

"I know!" moaned James, as Remus patted him on the back and Peter stared at him avidly.

"So what are you going to do?" asked Remus quietly after a long pause.

"Slit my wrists?"

Peter giggled, and when James glared at him, quickly said, "Just go back and play it cool."

Sirius looked at Peter in mock surprise. "For once, you've actually got it right! Prongs, you need to act as if you don't care. Act like you're not interested. Act normal."

"You would know, Padfoot!" said James, grinning half-heartedly, as Sirius was known all over the school for his uncanny knack with girls.

"Be nice to her. Be honest and humble. We know from... ahem...past experience that Lily hates bragging," said Remus delicately. Sirius nodded vigorously in approval to mask the fact that he was trying to hide his laughter as he remembered Lily shouting at a rapidly deflating James.

"Take your snitch in!" cried Peter excitedly. "Do that catching thing with it, you're amazing!" At this, Sirius stopped nodding and shook his head in disgust at Peter's idiocy.

"Shut up, Wormtail!" snapped Sirius. "Just because it works on you doesn't mean that Lily will like it!" Peter turned an admirable shade of scarlet and clamped his lips together as James roared with laughter.

"She has a really infectious smile, so don't smile back. Act really cool and unfazed," Sirius advised, thinking of the white gleam of her teeth and how he had automatically beamed back.

"But you need to be nice," pressed Remus anxiously. "I really think she hates you."

"Thanks, Moony," said James sourly.

"I'm just trying to help. I think she would respond better to a modest, humble version of you than the arrogant, overconfident version," said Remus.

"But don't go overboard on the niceness!" said Sirius, scowling at Remus, irritated. He just didn't understand how important it was to get the girl to come to you, thought Sirius. "She'll think that you're sucking up." Peter listened with rapt attention, his face shining with glee. "But maybe pay her a compliment," added Sirius. He tried to remember his various dates with different girls, and he had a vague sense that they always liked him more when he commented on their hair or their clothes. He also remember that they listened in awe as he described his Quidditch matches as he filled in for Chaser, although he knew it would be a mistake to mention this to James; Lily hated James showing off about his Quidditch talent.

"Already tried it," said James miserably.

"And?" asked Remus.

"Rejected. Instantly!" James made and despairing gesture. "Why am I always so stupid when she's around?"

"Just don't make it obvious that you like her," said Sirius bluntly, as Peter nodded eagerly. He sat down heavily to spend the rest of his free period coaching James on how to act in front of Lily.