Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. Neither is Sirius. Unfortunately.
A/N: Thank you to, *deep breath*, Guests, Megan, Choc0 Chipz (nice name), TartCat207, thirteenth soul, YouBlitheringIdiot (great name), Thirteenthphoenix, i3jily, Awesomeness620 and everybody else who has reviewed, favourited or followed! Sorry if I missed you out!
WARNING: Moping ahead! Also, cliffhanger! Which you were probably expecting at this point.
Enjoy xx

Elizabeth Darren.
What a stupid name.
She's lovely, too. That's what's horrible.
If she was horrible, she'd be easier to hate.
James asked her out a few days ago, in the middle of the Great Hall at breakfast, while I was still away.
I don't care.

I care. Way too much.
It's over, I have to accept that.
I'm trying.
It's hard, but I'm talking to Sirius and Remus and Peter and even James occasionally, though it's only ever small talk.
She's blonde and has pretty blue eyes and perfect skin and would look great in a bin bag. She wears make-up and she knows how to make it look pulls her skirt up and gets good grades and is polite and kind and a Prefect.
She doesn't have red hair and weird green eyes and doesn't argue with everyone. She doesn't have a quick temper and doesn't have panic attacks and isn't spending most of her time studying. She isn't me, and James doesn't seem to mind. In fact, he seems to quite like it.
I don't care.

Diggory asked me out earlier, and I bit my lip as I looked at him.
"I'm sorry?"
"I asked if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me?"
"I'm afraid I don't understand."
"Hogsmeade, at the weekend? Do you want to come or not?"
"Yes please." I mutter, and he freezes.
"You would? Look, the thing is, babe, I actually-"
"You just ask me for my reaction, don't you?"
I'm not even sad.
"It's just funny, sometimes, that's all..."
"Okay, Diggory." My voice is quiet, and confident. "I'm glad we've straightened that out."

Charms is uneventful, and nothing really happens until I take a detour before Transfiguration to go to the bathroom, and run into Snape.
"Potter left you then, Lily? I told you so."
"I don't care." I hiss suddenly, whirling around to look at him. "I don't care that you told me so, I don't care. I'd rather have loved and been hurt than never loved at all."
"You...you loved him?" He looks like he's about to faint.
"Yeah, I did." I still do lingers on my lips, but I purse them together and regard him sharply. "And I'm proud of it."
"Proud?" He now looks like he's about to be sick.
"Yes. I'm proud, proud that I loved James Potter, proud that I let him in, proud that I finally let go of my prejudice against him and his friends. Yes, Severus, I'm proud."
"How?" He snarls, greasy hair flying. "How can you be...proud, of associating with scum like them?"
"Scum?" My voice raises slightly in volume, and I narrow my eyes dangerously. "Scum? They're the scum? Not you and
your Death Eater pals who'd kill me in a heartbeat?"
"They're not-"
"Not Death Eaters? Wouldn't kill me? Oh, don't make me laugh." I snap. "I'm a Mudblood, remember?"
"Don't call yourself that!"
"Why not? It's true, isn't it? I'm a Mudblood. A Mudblood, and proud of it. Because I'm ten times the person that any of you will ever be."

With that, I turn off my heel and walk off to Transfiguration, smiling slightly to myself, plaits dancing around my shoulders. It takes two boring lessons and a sudden rainstorm during Care of Magical Creatures to diminish my proud smile, and it's only Sirius coming up to me as we go down to dinner that makes me properly frown.

"Lily? Please don't tell me Diggory's telling the truth and you're going with him to Hogsmeade?"
"No, I'm not, don't worry. I said yes, and he said he only asked me for this laughs, like I thought."
"Right. Don't scare me like that again, okay?"
"I won't." Smiling at me in relief, he goes off to sit with Remus and Peter.
"Argh..." Alice slumps down on the table as we sit down, and I rub her shoulder soothingly.
"What's up, Alice?"
"My brain hurts..."
"I don't know if I can help with that." I smile. "I'd ask Madam Pomfrey about it."


Sirius finds me later, in the Astronomy Tower, sitting on the floor when I'm supposed to be doing rounds.
"Sirius, you should be in bed..." I protest weakly, but he ignores me and sits down, handing me a handkerchief that I take gratefully.
"I'm not crying." I say stubbornly, and he nods sincerely.
"Of course you're not. You alright?"
"Not really."
He slings his arm around my shoulder and I lean into him.
"You could try making him jealous."
We both automatically know who him is.

I shake my head. "I couldn't do it to Darren. She's too nice."
"Nice? She said that werewolves were foul, evil monsters that deserve to be put down."
I let out a horrified gasp. "She didn't!"
Sirius laughs bitterly. "I thought I was going to hit her."
"Did Remus...?"
"Thank Merlin, no."
"James doesn't know, does he?"
"No." Sirius looks up at me. "He would've broken up with her."
"Yeah, he would've."

"So..." Sirius asked tentatively. "Are you going to...?"
"Why?" I think out loud. "Why would you help me, if it would hurt James?"
"Because you moping makes me sad, and James' girlfriend's a...you're both being idiots, and you need to stop it."
" I am not moping!"
He looks at me, one eyebrow raised, down at the cup of ice cream in my hands and back up to my tear-stained face.
"Fine. What are you suggesting?"
He explains his idea, and I look at him, shocked.
"What?"

Here we go! One cliffhanger, as promised! What do you think Sirius' idea is?
OKAY, readers! I'm looking for a good name for my story Constellations, which is a Regulus/OC story and is up now! It is for a Slytherin, and I'm open to boy or girl names! Got any good ideas, pop 'em in a review.
Thank you!
Adios,
She-who-is-quite-sorry-about-this-and-will-now-not-use-the-word-vaguely-ever-again xx