A/N- So I realised that I had unwittingly built up the Friday potions session between Dany and Sirius. And now I'm terrified that it's not going to live up to expectations. I didn't intend to make it such a big deal. Everything else in the chapter was built up tho. So.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

The Fault is Not in our Stars, but in Ourselves.

"Lils, are you done with your Potions project?" Dany leaned across the table, looking at her friend expectantly.

"What's with the tone, Wilson?" Lily asked, not looking up from her notes. "You sound like Remus after James and Sirius have created havoc."

"I do not!" spluttered Dany. "I just need to borrow your cauldron. Your copper one. Polyjuice takes less time to brew in a copper cauldron."

"Is that it?" smirked Lily. "Yeah, of course you can borrow it. Dunno why you sounded so sheepish."

"Excuse me for being polite!" Dany narrowed her eyes at her friend who just snorted at her expression and went back to her work.

Suddenly, there was a huge commotion in the common room. Lily and Dany looked up to find Sirius sprawled on the floor, wailing loudly. Alarmed, they both got up to see what had happened. James had rushed over to his best friend, looking incredibly worried.

"Godric! What's wrong, Sirius?" he asked, urgently.

"I just… get so emotional…" Sirius hiccuped. "Because so many people think…" James gave him an encouraging look. "They think that I care about their opinions! B-but… I DON'T! I don't give a fuck! I really just don't care!"

James' face fell for a second before tackled Sirius with all his might. This caused Sirius to wail even more loudly about the tragic betrayal he had faced at the hands of his best friend. All in all, they continued wrestling on the common room floor (spurred on by the onlookers) until Lily got fed up and Bat Bogey-ed them both. Remus hadn't gotten up from his place beside the fireplace, nodding his head absentmindedly when Lily hexed his friends, and scribbling a few last minute changes to his Charms essay. Peter had very wisely stayed out of all this and peered out from the boys' dorm when the noise had died down. Receiving a go-ahead from Remus, he came back down and resumed his Herbology reading.

"That was uncalled for…" muttered James, glaring at no one in particular. "Pads, you're an arse."

"Don't blame me because you got into trouble with Evans," said Sirius, rolling his eyes. "I was being serious."

Dany caught the faint smirk on his lips as he said this and groaned in frustration. Catching her reaction, Sirius nudged her leg with his and winked at her when she looked at him.

"You need to stop with the name puns," she whispered to him.

"Can't do that, love," he replied, leaning towards her so that he was whispering in her ear. "It's a classic."

"At least you're done with that ridiculous nickname from yesterday," breathed Dany, looking away from him.

"Oh! That's cruel!" Sirius let out a bark of laughter, his face lighting up as he did. "And what makes you think that I'm done with that name? Maybe, I'm just waiting for the right moment to introduce it to the public, Juliet." He whispered the last part into her ear, making her shiver slightly.

"I'll see you tonight." He smirked at her and got up, leaving with James and Remus.

"Tosser," muttered Dany, her cheeks flaming.

"I'm telling you, Dany! That must be the reason!" Marlene bounded up and down as she and Dany walked down for dinner. Lily had stayed behind to finish up the prefect rosters with Remus.

"It's just a little unbelievable," mused Dany, uncertainly.

"What other reason can there be for Sirius popping up everywhere and spending so much time with you?" Marlene rolled her eyes and stuck out her hip.

"I- uh… I don't know," sighed Dany in defeat. As improbable as she found Marlene's theory that Sirius fancied her and therefore was behaving like this, she was secretly quite pleased. Afterall, it was nice to be liked. And by someone like Sirius - Merlin!

"You know I'm right," said Marlene, tapping her nose knowingly.

"Right about what?" asked Sirius, grinning at them both. He was sitting next to James and Peter, all three of whom were looking at Marlene expectantly.

"Scotland winning this year." Dany breathed a sigh of relief as everyone seemed to buy Marlene's reason. "She doesn't agree."

"Damn right, she doesn't! Dany's not biased like you, Marls! She can call a spade, a spade. Or in this case," said James, looking around with a superior look. "Losers, losers."

"Your vocabulary is astounding." Lily sat down next to Dany, as James immediately started messing up his hair.

"Evans," he acknowledged, his cheeks going slightly pink.

"Careful, Evans," said Sirius with a smirk. "Sarcasm doesn't register for Prongs when it comes from you. He's probably going to pass out of happiness because he thinks you just complimented him."

Dany waited in the empty classroom, all the ingredients and Lily's copper cauldron ready by her side. She couldn't get Marlene's words out of her head. Could it be true? Was there an ounce of possibility in what she had conjectured? Her cheeks felt hot as her mind ran through all these thoughts. She didn't notice when Sirius had walked in, but nearly jumped out of her skin when his upside down head popped up from above her.

"UGH!" The shock of it all made her lose balance and fall off her chair, causing Sirius to crack up with laughter.

"Merlin's saggy underpants! You have the best reactions!" He guffawed loudly, as she frowned and picked herself off the floor.

"People die of shock. Just so you know," she said, sending him a dirty look.

"So I've heard. But since my parents are still alive after I was sorted into Gryffindor, I'm inclined to disbelieve it," he shrugged. "Let's get to it, shall we?"

Sirius added the fluxweed and knotgrass while Dany stirred the potion clockwise and then waved her wand over it. They needed to wait for an hour before commencing with the next step.

"Going for the World Cup this year?" Sirius asked, rolling up his sleeves and leaning against the wall.

"Umm… I dunno. It's a bit tough seeing as my parents are Muggles. I really want to though."

"Well," smirked Sirius. "I'm sure we can do something about that." A slight frown creased his forehead as he said this, a rare hesitance showing in his eyes. "You, uh- you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but what's the deal with you and Mike?"

Dany's eyebrows shot up. Whatever she had been expecting, it was not this. She stared at him for a few seconds, wondering how best to answer him.

"It's a long story," she sighed. "And difficult to really explain. But I'll try."

"When Mike was born, my parents didn't know about magic. In retrospect, I must have been showing signs but they had no idea about any of this. He, umm… he was really fond of me growing up. We used to play a lot. And then when McGonagall came to give me my letter, he was pretty thrilled. My parents were scared but Mike couldn't contain his joy at the fact that his sister could do magic. By this time, we recognised the signs of magic that Mike was exhibiting as well, which meant that he would probably be joining Hogwarts in a few years. After my first year, I came back and told Mike all about magic and Hogwarts and everything we did here. He was so fascinated. My parents had gotten over their initial fear and were really happy that I had done well in my first year. But then… I think it was around Mike's 8th birthday that things started changing. He wasn't as thrilled to hear about things at Hogwarts, in fact, he once tried to break my wand." She paused here, frowning slightly. "I'm not sure what happened but gradually, he started to find everything about me annoying - my grades, my friends, anything I said or did made him throw a tantrum. Mum and Dad were confused, they didn't know what had gotten into him. So we decided it was better to keep the two of us separated. When he got his Hogwarts letter, I went to his room to congratulate him but he only sneered at me and told me to leave him alone. And well… you know how things are now."

Sirius stared at her, unsure of how to react. She sounded so wistful as she spoke about her brother. Her dark brown eyes flickered with emotion and for some reason, he felt incredibly guilty. Breaking out of her reverie, she laughed awkwardly and pulled her hair into a ponytail. Never one for awkward situations, Sirius put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes dramatically.

"So close," he sighed. "You almost beat me out on the dysfunctional younger sibling dynamic. Almost, but not quite." He opened one eye to catch of glimpse of her reaction and was pleased to notice that she was rolling her eyes and smiling.

"It's so ironic that your name is Sirius because you are rarely ever, dare I say it, 'serious'," Dany commented thoughtfully. "And what is with your weird nickname? 'Padfoot'? What's that supposed to mean anyway?"

"That is privileged information, my dear Juliet," said Sirius with an annoying smirk.

"Prat," Dany muttered, narrowing her eyes at him. "Anyway, how's Quidditch practice going? Ready for Ravenclaw?"

"Don't remind me," groaned Sirius. "Prongs is being a nightmare! I'd say he was possessed, but no spirit would be that insane."

"Is ickle Sirius having a hard time?" Dany giggled as Sirius glared at her with a very poorly disguised look of amusement.

"Oh, it is on!" he declared, rubbing his hands together gleefully. They spent the rest of the time laughing, joking, answering obscure philosophical questions, and attempting to figure out if Dumbledore's beard was real.

By the time they reached the common room, Dany felt exhausted but her eyes were alight with pure joy. She had forgotten how much fun it was spending time with Sirius, and this time she hadn't been wondering about why he had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. And of course, he was so ridiculously handsome. She had almost gotten caught staring at him a few times while brewing the potion. Each time, it seemed like she found something new about him that just added to his attractiveness. Today, she had discovered that Sirius had a cleft (so subtle you'd miss it if you weren't embarrassingly close to him, which, of course, she had been only accidentally) and that had made her heart skip a rather large beat.

"Goodnight," she said softly, waving at him from the foot of the girl's staircase. He was only a few inches away from her and she caught a whiff of his cologne. It was intoxicating. He was leaning in slowly and she held her breath, wondering if he would actually go through with it after what had happened last time. He was so close… And then he wasn't. Leaning away from her, he let out a huge sigh.

"Goodnight," he said, an inscrutable look on his features. "Juliet."

Dany woke up the next morning and found that Lily had already left the dorm. She realised that it was time for lunch and hastened to get ready. She was hoping to return Lily's cauldron before the Slug Club demonstration later that evening. She knew that the Gryffindors had Quidditch practice in the morning, so Marlene wasn't around either. She spotted Remus sitting by the fire and asked him whether he had seen Lily.

"Yeah… I think she said something about meeting McGonagall before lunch," he mused, not looking up from his book. "But that was a while back."

"Alright. Thanks Remus!" She chuckled as he had gotten lost in his book again.

McGonagall? Hmm. That probably meant she was somewhere in the Transfiguration wing. It was quite large so the chances of finding her before lunch were slim. Dany groaned and started her search. She hadn't gotten very far when she heard familiar voices around the corner. She was about to go up to them when a few stray bits of conversation made her halt.

"Look, I can't do this anymore, Evans. She doesn't deserve this."

"Please Sirius! Don't say that!"

"I'm sorry. I can't keep distracting her everytime you and Prongs have a snogging session! It's not fair! And she's your best friend. Isn't it about time you tell her about you two?"

"Yeah, Lily. I don't get why we can't tell Dany about us."

"You don't get it, James! I don't want her to find out! She-"

Dany turned the corner, effectively interrupting Lily's tirade. She was frowning and holding Lily's copper cauldron. James looked alarmed to see her while Sirius just looked incredibly upset. Lily, on the other hand, had paled considerably. She attempted to speak but was silenced by Dany's soft, emotionless voice.

"You were distracting me," she glanced at Sirius, who flinched slightly. "So I wouldn't find out about you." Her gaze fell on James and Lily, the former of whom looked incredibly guilty and wasn't making eye contact with Dany. Her eyes lingered briefly on Lily's stricken face, before turning around and leaving.

"Dany! Wait!" Lily yelled after her. "You have to- UGH!" she screamed, barely managing to avoid the cauldron Dany had sent soaring in her direction.

Don't kill me. I will explain more in the next chapter. Lily's bizarre stunt and Sirius' erratic behaviour. Hope you guys like the bit about Mike. More will be revealed later but this is something for now.

Anyway. Please leave your thoughts. I love getting reviews! I even have a couple of regular readers!

Cheers xxx