Friendly Advice, or Something Similar

James Potter could do anything.

Or, that's what he had always been told, at least.

His dad had always said that. Ever since he was little.

' If you want something enough, you can do anything you need to get it. You, my boy, can have anything in the world.'

And James always had.

When he was younger, he'd wanted to be the best wizard he could possibly be. World famous and powerful beyond belief. The next Dumbledore! So he'd practised and practised with whoever's wand he could get hold of. He'd long since given up on that childish dream - almost - but he liked to think he was still well above average in his abilities.

When his Hogwarts letter finally arrived, James promised himself he was going to be the best in all his classes, and be the most popular kid in the school - someone they'd never forget - and have all the friends he could want. And he'd gotten most of that right. Even if he wasn't top of every class, he was in the top three. And even if he didn't have all the friends in the world, he had the best friends he could ever ask for. He was pretty sure the school wouldn't forget him any time soon, either.

When he had decided to find a way to help Moony every month, they had. They had sat down, the three of them, and looked through books and books of useless prejudicial lies masquerading as fact until they'd had a brainwave. That wasn't it, of course. The hard work started later - searching for information on the animagus transformation without detection from the teachers or help from Remus. But they had done it.

He had done it ever time.

The one thing he seemed incapable of doing was securing the wonderful Lily Evans' heart. He'd been trying for over a year now, almost constantly, but to no avail.

It was starting to look hopeless, even to him.

Currently, James was laying spread-eagled on his four poster bed, feeling very sorry for himself.

He was shivering, even though the room was quite warm. Probably something to do with the fact that he was still sporting his soaked quidditch robes - fresh from the mornings match against Ravenclaw.

They had won, naturally, and he had taken the opportunity to ask his fiery beauty to go out with him yet again in the celebration party. She had rejected him one again, loudly and disdainfully in front of everyone. He didn't mind so much, he'd prove them all wrong one of these days.

At least, he hoped so. It wasn't looking good at the moment.

He ached something awful. Every muscle hurt, again probably something to do with the shivering. His normally untameable hair was wet enough to be flattened to his skull for once, strands of it stuck to the clammy skin on his face.

Annoyingly, the bright afternoon sun - It would be bloody sunny now, of course - was streaming through the window right onto him. Rather than move, which would have taken effort he didn't think he had, James simply closed his eyes to block it out.

As he was engulfed in strange red darkness behind his eyelids, he let his mind wander.

Maybe, he thought, if he tried really hard, he could persuade the ground to swallow him whole.

Then again, he'd never be able to so much as look at Lily again if he were underground. Would he?

If the ground swallowed you up, did you die and go to Heaven, or did you just sort of sit there, being walked over for the rest of eternity?

That was, of course, assuming that there was a Heaven - like James' great Aunt Izzy professed. And if there was, did that mean there was a Hell, too. Why would he be sent there? Isn't it meant to be below ground?

It wasn't until the door creaked slightly that James realised he didn't know how long he'd been there. He could still hear the cheering of the party-goers downstairs, so it couldn't be too late.

Over the top of the commotion, he could hear feet padding across the carpet, and then a familiar weight sank into the mattress by his feet.

' Watching your roommates sleep could be considered creepy, you know,' James said, without opening his eyes. ' Anyone might think you have unsavoury intentions.'

Sirius barked a laugh. ' Not for you, mate.'

' No, I suppose not,' James said, too tired to keep the sarcasm from his voice. It was getting daft now, this denial. ' Just as well, too. I'm sure Miss Evans wants me untouched by human hands.'

Sirius laughed again. ' The only thing the Lovely Miss Evans wants right now is to beat you senseless with her human hands.'

' Nah, she uses books and sticks and… y'know…'

' Magic?'

' Yeah, that! And… Hang on, did you just call her lovely?'

' Might have. Don't recall.'

' You think she's lovely?'

' Don't recall,' he repeated. ' You don't talk about her nearly often enough. She the sexy brunette with glasses?'

' That'd be me,' James almost smiled

' Of course it would,' Sirius patted James' foot patronisingly. ' Pretty blonde?'

' No. And if Pete hears you're tying to set me up with his girl, we'll both be in trouble.'

Sirius grunted his indignation and laughed at the ridiculousness of the idea at the same time, and ended up making a stupid and feeble little snort that made James' mouth twitch again. Curse that Black and his ability to cheer James up without even trying.

' Okay then,' Sirius continued, thoughtfully. James could imagine the look of mock-concentration on his face. ' Ah. I know! Redhead. Freckly tits.'

James' eyes snapped open at the sudden mental image, ' Freckly…'

' Oh, don't go there,' Sirius said, snapping his fingers so close to James face that he felt the air on his nose. ' It's an overrated image.'

' Maybe for you, you queer!'

' Hmm,' came the reply. It was a decidedly noncommittal noise.

James decided to press his advantage, ' Not even bothering to be offended now?'

' You're argument,' Sirius said, slowly. ' is that I don't fancy Evans, so I must be a fairy?'

' Yeah,' James shrugged. ' And, y'know, all the staring. Into space. That is always miraculously occupied by a certain person. By the name of -'

' Alright!' Sirius had the decency to flush a little. ' Point taken.'

Sirius hesitated. James just looked at him. He tried to make sure it said in your own time and I'm not leaving without a confession all at the same time.

' I… err…' Sirius started, then stopped. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, and dropped his gaze, staring instead at the mattress. James heard him swallow hard, then Sirius looked back up and said steadily, ' Yeah, no freckly tits for me.'

There was a definite note of challenge in his tone, and James supposed it was understandable given his family, so he shrugged his acceptance. He wasn't sure if it was needed or not, but it felt right.

' At all,' James had to ask, ' or just while you and Moony are shagging?'

' Fuck off,' Sirius replied, without meaning. Then he added, quietly, ' It's not like that.'

James tried not to gape, or to giggle. The result was something of a manic grin.

' You great, sodding virgin. I knew it!'

' Fuck off,' Sirius said again, more vehemently. ' Not like you're getting any, either.'

' I already told you -'

' Will you please shut up about Lily fucking Evans!'

' Make me,' James suggested.

Sirius accepted the challenge with a battle-cry and a lunge forward. They proceeded to wrestle across the dorm, occasional insults thrown between punches.

' Inbreed,' James said, shoving blindly in Sirius' general direction.

' Nonce,' Sirius shouted as he tumbled off the bed.

' Fairy,' James called, jumping down on top of his best friends head.

' Leaf-licker,' Sirius rolled away and kicked back randomly.

' Cock sucker,' James looked extremely smug for the whole of two seconds before Sirius stray foot connected with his neck and toppled him backwards.

' Bit below the belt there, mate,' Sirius muttered, regaining some semblance of balance.

' That'd be the general idea, I should think,' James replied, grinning. ' Not that I'm the expert.'

Considering the battle won, he made the mistake of turning his back. Sirius pounced, tackling James hard and sending them both tumbling to the floor once again. After a moment of pure dazed blinking, James found himself the worse off of the pair - pinned down by the weight of his smirking best mate. He struggled pointlessly, mostly for show.

' You better not be getting off on this.'

Sirius snorted. ' Already been over this. You aren't my type.'

' But bookworm werewolf is?'

' Evidently.'

' Get off me then, you son of a bitch,' James shoved one more time, before conceding, ' You win.'

Sirius stood up, stretched, then offered James a hand. ' I can't fight a man that insults my mother.'

' I know,' James grinned, finally casting a quick drying spell on himself. ' Let's eat, I'm starving.'

' Moping'll do that to you,' Sirius informed him, wisely.

' You'd know, I suppose,' clapping him on the back as they headed for the door.

His fingers landed on something raised, ridges just noticeable under the thin fabric of his shirt. James realised something.

' You haven't told him have you?' Sirius looked like he wasn't going to answer, so James clarified. ' About the scratches.'

He still didn't answer, but the guilty look was enough of a confirmation.

' You should tell him, y'know.'

' Yeah. And you should back off a bit with Evans. I think she'd actually like you if you stopped being a creepy stalker.'

' Maybe I will.'

' If you can, I can.

' I'll hold you to that,' James promised. ' Now, come! Dinner awaits!'

Hey, hey! Finally, The talk.

I love writing these two together, so much fun to be had. I rather think they are hopeless cases - useless with their own relationships but great with advice for each other.

And, while you're here, a few questions I have for you;

1) How far do you want this to go graphically? Are we all eagerly awaiting some explicit scenes, or are we happy with how it is? Or some where inbetween?

2) This story was always intended to finish at the end of seventh year. It still is. But, I've been thinking about continuing into the post-graduation years. It'd be more angst, most likely, just because of the war themes. Would you be interested in a sequel?

I really appreciate your feedback, so please let me know what you think.

As usual, thank you for reading, please review and Danke Schoen.