Sorry for the long update time again! I just graduated from college, so I've been extremely busy… Once again, I own nothing you recognize! Also, REVIEWS WOULD BE NICE!

Chapter 10

Sirius knew he had stepped over the line. James was his best mate and he had gone and pissed him off and hit on the girl he had been trying to win for the last five years. McKinnon got under his skin more than he liked and hitting on Lily seemed like the only way not to show how much he was bothered. Now he had detention with her and James got landed with a whole week.

The boys decided to go outside for their free period. They made their way to the beech tree by the lake so they could talk without anyone listening. James was too mad to listen to anyone. When he got to the tree, he threw his backpack down and continued walking toward the lake. He still didn't know what Sirius was thinking; Lily was his girl. He wanted to tell his friends about dating her, but he knew Lily wasn't ready. James didn't know if he could take another fight like his between him and Sirius—they always said they wouldn't let a girl come in between their friendship.

"James." Sirius said from behind him. "Come on, you know I didn't mean anything by hitting on her."

"You still did it," James said turning around to face him. They were half way around the lake and out of earshot of Remus and Peter.

"Mate, you know McKinnon gets under my skin. I wanted to get under hers too."

"By hitting on my girlfriend?"

"You're what?" Sirius asked, shocked.

"Fuck," James said. "That did not come out right."

"James," Sirius said seriously. "Are you and Lily dating?"

James didn't know what to do. Lily was going to be so mad. He didn't mean to let it slip out that they were dating, but he had never kept anything from Sirius before.

"Yes," James said. "Well, no. We're not dating, but we're not seeing other people."

"Mate," Sirius gave him a look. "Are you letting her string you along?"

"No," James snapped. "It isn't like that. She wants to take it slow and I don't want to push her; we were going to talk about everything in Hogsmeade, but now I can't go."

"James, I had no idea. Why didn't you tell any of us?"

"Could you image how many people would freak if they knew Lily and I were starting to date?" James laughed. "By the way, you can't tell anyone—not even Remus and Peter."

"Fine, but you shouldn't have to hide this shit," Sirius replied. He put his hand on James' shoulder. "Mate, you're like a brother to me and I want you to be happy but Lily is just one girl. Wouldn't it be easier to date someone who lets you tell people about it?"

"I'm telling you aren't I?"

James and Sirius joked around a little longer about the issue; Sirius realized that James would never change his mind when it came to Lily. He hated seeing James struggle through everything Lily was putting him through, but he didn't want to push his friend away.

The two boys moved back under the tree and sat down. James hoped Sirius wouldn't let him down again; he didn't have the heart to tell Lily that he could not keep their secret on top of not being able to join her in Hogsmeade. Remus put down his book and looked at his friends.

"The full moon is a week from Friday," he told the three boys. "I really wish you'd change your mind about all this animagi stuff."

"Remus, you're worse than women," Sirius joked.

"Yeah mate," James added. "We can handle your time of the month, don't worry."

"Hey that's it!" Sirius shouted. "I know what you nickname should be!"

"Oh really?" Remus rolled his eyes. "Enlighten us then, Sirius, what is my nickname?"

"Moony!" Sirius exclaimed. "Get it?"

James started laughing. "Moony? Is that really what you're expecting us to call him?"

"Well, he does get moody like a bloody women because of the moon," Sirius said. "And it's not like anyone will guess what it really means—we can just tell everyone he likes to moon people."

James and Peter were laughing hysterically. Sirius had come up with some good logic and mooning people seemed like a dare the Marauders would give each other. Remus didn't look too happy with the idea, but he could see that his friends liked the name.

"Well," James laughed. "It fits the situation alright."

"Fits the situation," Remus said incredulously. "Should we call you fork head then because of the prongs on your antlers?"

Sirius was laughing hysterically now. "Fork head? You know you're supposed to be the smart one right?"

James was thoughtful for a few moments. "You know something, Remus," James said. "You might be on to something."

"James," Sirius said. "I know you eat a lot mate, but come on… fork head is ridiculous."

"Well no shit," James replied. "But forks and antlers both have prongs," James emphasized the last word.

"Fine, we'll call you Prongs," Sirius said. "Since we're going for the obvious are we going to call Peter Wormtail since his tail does look like a giant worm?"

"We don't want to be mean Sirius," Remus said. "No one wants to be compared to a worm."

"I like it," Peter said. The blonde boy looked toward Remus; he always liked what Sirius and James came up with, even if it was at his expense. "Wormtail sounds better than other rat related names."

"Well fine Peter, there's you name," Remus said nonchalantly. "Now that just leaves Sirius."

"Don't look so haughty Remus," Sirius said. "Dogs are cute, there's nothing weird you can come up with for me."

"Oh really?" Remus smirked. "We could nickname you based on your feet."

"My feet," Sirius replied. "I keep telling you Remus 'dogs are cute' I have adorable paws."

"Oh yes, adorable," Remus retorted. "Especially the bottom of them how they're padded over with callouses from walking barefoot."

Sirius' smile disappeared from his face. He didn't want to be nicknamed after his feet, but he had nicknamed Remus after showing his ass so the retaliation was justified.

"Padfoot," James choked out laughing. "Fitting even when he's a human; I never see Sirius with shoes on when he's not in class."

"We have our nicknames!" Peter exclaimed.

"James," Sirius said. "You better quit laughing before Peter wets himself with excitement."

James stopped laughing, but kept a smile on his face. It was days like these that he lived for; his friends were everything to him and these three were like the brothers that he never had. As Remus made them pack up for their next class, with Sirius complaining the whole time, James realized that he would do just about for them. Hoping that Sirius would remember to keep his secret about Lily, James gathered his books and headed to Potions.

"You know Remus," Lily said while taking her place in line outside of the Potions classroom. "I don't know why you didn't take Ancient Runes with me. It's a really fun class!"

"I just didn't want the extra work," Remus replied. "Now that I'm a Prefect, I'm going to have my hands full trying to control this lot." He pointed to James, Sirius, and Peter.

"Hey we're not that bad," Sirius said. "We just like to prank first years and Slytherins."

"Not on my watch, Mr. Black." Said a jovial voice from behind the students.

The Gryffindors jumped as Professor Slughorn, Head of Slytherin House opened the door to the Potions classroom. They relaxed when they realized he was smiling; this meant they were not in danger of losing any House Points over Sirius' nonchalant attitude towards their Professor's House.

James took his normal seat beside Sirius and glanced over at Lily. She was in the front of the classroom at a table by herself. Normally Snape would be sitting next to her, but the grease ball was nowhere to be found.

"Miss Evans," Professor Slughorn waddled over towards Lily. "I'm afraid that Mr. Snape has fallen ill and will be missing this particular potions lesson. Are you okay with working on your own, my dear?"

"Oh," Lily visibly relaxed and smiled at her professor. "Yes sir, I think I'll be able to manage."

"That's wonderful!" Slughorn beamed. "I expected no less in your confidence Miss Evans! I always say that there has been no other student, save Severus, who has your natural talent for the subject."

Lily turned to smile at James as Professor Slughorn went to write the day's instructions on the board. Their first potion was not a difficult one; she had practiced it with Severus multiple times. Lily liked to be prepared when it came to her education and Severus was equally good at potions.

The class started on their lesson and there was little excitement for the next hour and a half. Lily's potion turned out to be the best in the class, which shocked no one. Slughorn beamed over her cauldron and awarded Gryffindor ten points when the lesson was over. Sirius packed up quickly and moved towards the red head while James was talking with Remus.

"Hey Lily," Sirius started off slowly. "I just wanted to apologize for earlier."

"That's okay," Lily said, not even looking at him. "You were just being yourself."

"Lily, look at me," Sirius finally got her attention. "I'm not just apologizing because I was a prat."

"Well you were," Lily interjected.

"I know that," Sirius smiled. "I didn't know how close you and James were and I really am sorry I overstepped a line. James is my best mate and I would never hurt him."

"What do you mean how close I am with James?" Lily questioned him. She glanced over at James only to find him staring at the two of them with a questioning look.

"I know you guys are friends now," Sirius said quickly. "I don't want to be the one to ruin that for you. Or him."

"James and I are fine," Lily smiled up at him as James walked over. "Trust me Sirius, what you said earlier didn't affect my friendship with James."

James heard the end of that sentence and felt relieved. He also felt a little ashamed of being so upset with Sirius; he knew that Lily could handle herself and most likely thought that Sirius was being a smart ass once more. He went through the rest of the day dreading what would happen after dinner; James was going to take Lily for a walk outside and explain to her about Hogsmeade and his slip to Sirius.

Hey everyone! I'm sorry for the late update and the short chapter…just graduated and moved so I should have more time to write now! More chapters are coming, so please review! =)