Sirius Black couldn't sleep. His three dormates had all passed out hours ago, James knew something was up and he'd been the last to fall into slumber, not wanting to leave his friend alone with unpleasant thoughts on his mind, but Sirius had convinced him he was alright and they could talk in the morning. So now, hours into a dark night, Sirius still lay awake listening to Peter snore and unable to quiet his mind.
Finally giving up on sleep, Sirius eventually decided there was no use just lying in bed, so he quietly made his way from the seventh year boys dormitory and down to the common room.
They hadn't been back at school for long, it was only late September, but there was already a chill in the air so the common room had a roaring fire awaiting him. He decided that if he was going to dwell on his issue, doing it in front of a nice fire was as good a place as any. That was until he realised the couch in front of the fire was already occupied.
"Evans?" He hissed in surprise, taking in the red headed girl sitting with her knees tucked up to her chest, gaze fixed on the flames.
Lily looked up with her own shock, and he saw, to his dismay, there were tears on her cheeks.
She whiped them away furiously, not that it did any good, since he'd already seen them.
"Hey Sirius," she said, voice scratchy.
"You alright?" He asked her softly, deciding to take a seat on the couch next to her. Misery loved company after all.
"I'm fine," she said, turning her gaze back to the fire. "What are you doing up?"
"I could ask you the same thing." Lily looked at him levelly, taking in his own sullen appearance. A year or two ago they never would've had this conversation, but they'd become friends, good friends, in the last year.
"I can wake up James if you want him to come cheer you up instead," Sirius told her, fully meaning it. He didn't miss the blush that spread over her cheeks.
"Why would I want James to cheer me up?" she asked, an attempt at nonchalance that didn't work.
He gave her a look that clearly told her to drop the act. Sirius wasn't blind and he wasn't stupid, but even if he was, no one could've missed the way Lily's opinion of his best friend had changed. She'd become good friends with all the Mauraders last year but there had always been something different between Lily and James, an energy, a magnetism, that existed between no one else. After they'd become friendly it was really only a matter of time until they became more than friends, and though James was still oblivious to Lily's growing feelings for him, Sirius didnt miss the way she looked at him or acted around him.
"When are you going to accept the way you feel about him isn't going away and put him out of his misery?" Sirius asked her.
Her blush intensified. "I'm getting there," she whispered, not meeting his eyes.
"Good. So will I fetch him?"
Lily gave a small chuckle. "He's not a dog," she said, which caused Sirius to snort, though she didn't know why, "but no, it's okay. It's stupid anyway. And he had a rough quidditch practice earlier, he's exhausted."
Sirius didnt disagree, James always ran himself ragged for the people around him, he was extra tired at the moment having been stressing over what was wrong with Sirius, he didn't need anything else to worry about. Still, Lily was more than just his best friends future wife (because even if she still hadnt admitted to James how much she fancied him, Sirius had no doubt they were the only ones for eachother). She was also his own friend, he'd come to care for her a lot and he didn't like the idea of her being upset.
They were quiet for a few moments.
"I'll tell you what's bothering me, if you tell me what has you upset," he finally offered.
Lily met his gaze. "Deal."
"You first," he said, causing her to roll her eyes endearingly.
She reached forward, picking up some sheets of muggle paper from the coffee table. "My sister hates me," she said simply, looking at what was clearly a letter.
Sirius laughed before he could stop himself, but when she sent him a hurt look, he immediately explained, "My brother hates me, that's what has me upset too."
"Oh," she said, understanding dawning on her. "He's in Slytherin, right? Fifth year?"
Sirius nodded. "Yeah, and he fits in well there. Where my parents failed at brainwashing me, he's their perfect child. A death eater in the making."
Lily cursed softly. "I'm so sorry Sirius, I knew you didn't get along with your family but..."
Sirius shrugged, going for a lightness he didn't feel. "Family isn't always about blood. I don't care that my parents and I hate eachother, but Reg is my little brother, it's my job to look out for him. When I ran away to James' last year, I begged him to come with me, but he refused to 'become a bloodtraitor'. We had a bit of a confrontation earlier in one of the corridors, left me feeling like shit I guess."
"That's awful," Lily said.
"I have James, he's a better brother than any relative could be. Anyway," he said, turning towards her, "your turn. What's with your sister?"
Lily sighed. "She's been jealous ever since I discovered I was a witch. You know I was friends with Snape before I came to Hogwarts and he told me I was a witch?" Sirius nodded, hating the mention of Lily's former friend, but didn't say anything. "Well he wasn't exactly nice to her. Petunia and I were best friends as well as sistes before I met him. I was so intrigued by the idea of being a witch, of going to a magical school, that I didn't really see the way it affected her. Now that I'm older I can see from her point of view it probably looked like I found a new friend who could tell me about a world she couldn't be involved in and I abandoned her for it. I was special, my parents kept telling me so once I got my letter, and since I was gone so much, whenever I was home for the holidays they'd always give me more attention than her. I shouldn't be surprised that she resents me for all that, but now that I see it I've been trying to make amends. But she doesn't want anything to do with me." Lily gazed at the letter in her hand sadly, "she called me a freak six times in this letter."
Sirius slung his arm over her shoulder and pulled her into a sideways hug. "I'm sorry, Lily, but if there's anything I've learned from Regulus it's that you can't change people's minds for them, they have to do it themselves."
"I know."
"For what it's worth, I've never had a sister, but if I did I'd much rather it be you than Petunia."
Lily laughed a little at that. "I've never had a brother either, but I'd also rather it be you than Regulas."
"I'd annoy the hell out of you," Sirius said.
"You already do," she reminded him, "Plus, isn't that what siblings are supposed to do? They annoy the hell out of you twenty-four seven but you still love them anyway?"
"You saying you love me, Evans? Don't let James hear that."
Lily smiled, "There are different types of love," she reminded him.
"So you're admitting that you are in love with James?"
She rolled her eyes fondly. "You're not going to let up on this are you?" He shook his head. "Fine," she said, "maybe I am a little, but if so that's between me and him, once I finally get up the courage to tell him."
Sirius surprised her by not pushing it further. "Fair enough," was all he said.
"So about the siblings thing," he said, "how about we say screw Petunia and Regulus, and we can be each others siblings instead?"
Lily didn't laugh at him, but she did give him an assessing look to see if he was joking.
"You want to be my honorary brother?" she asked him.
"Well, I'm going to be your honorary brother-in-law in a few years anyways, once you and James get married, but this seems a quicker option."
Lily smiled, ignoring the comment about her and James. "I suppose you do annoy me enough. It's a deal, I promise to have your back and be rude to any of your future girlfriends the way any good sister would."
Sirius grinned. "And I promise to annoy the hell out of you and be ridiculously overprotective the way any good brother would."
That deal made, they decided that they didn't need to waste any more energy that night talking about Regulus or Petunia. They still cared about their blood siblings of course, love wasn't something that could be turned off, but when they were upset by their familys, all they had to do was remind eachother that they still had a family they chose, one where love was much stronger than blood. That pact may have started off in the middle of the night with two upset teenagers, but it ended with a bond formed that would last past either of their deaths.
Later that night, when James woke up and noticed his best friend was gone from their dormitory, and, worried over him, he came down to the common room to look for him, he was met with a sight he didn't expect; his best friend and the girl he loved sitting in front of the fire, Lily asleep with her head on Sirius' shoulder and Sirius arm slung around her.
At first, for a brief moment, he felt bile rising at what it looked like, but Sirius noticed him and shot James a grin. "I'm not stealing your girl, Prongs," he assured him, seeing the look on James' face.
James had already relaxed, coming to the conclusion that neither of them would ever do that, but he was still curious about the situation. He raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Lily and I have decided that since both our siblings suck so much, we'll replace them with eachother," Sirius explained.
James was still a bit confused, his brain only partly functioning given that he'd just woken up and the sun still hadn't risen, but he smiled nonetheless. There was something heartwarming about seeing two of the most important people in his life bonding like this, and it was clear that Sirius was no longer bothered by what had happened with Regulus the day before, thanks to Lily. As long as they were happy (and Sirius really wasnt trying to steal Lily) then he was happy too.
