"Carefully… caaarefully…. Caaareful-"

"For Merlin's sake Prongs, would you shut up?" Sirius snapped, shooting a sideways glare at the other boy. The two of them were kneeling on James' bed, hunched over the antique mirrors they had found over the summer in the Potter's shed while Sirius held an eyedropper full of metamorphosis potion over the sleek glass. It had to be exactly one drop or it wouldn't work the way they wanted it to.

"Sorry," muttered James, though his anxious expression did not let up one bit.

Sirius' eyes narrowed. "D'you want to do it yourself? Clearly, I can't be trusted not to screw it up."

"I never said-"

"Then shut. Up."

James snapped his mouth shut and Sirius took a steadying breath before gently squeezing the dropper. He could practically feel James preparing to pounce and stop any excess potion from falling, and he couldn't blame him. They had been working on their latest project, a set of two-way mirrors for communication purposes since they returned to school just over a month ago. And they had already screwed up twice. Once resulting in shooting glass all over the dorm room and nearly leaving Sirius blind in one eye…

The small drop of silvery liquid finally fell and they both let out the breath they were holding in. Sirius leaned in further and gave the mirror in front of James the same treatment. Once that too went without a hitch, they sat back on their heels and waited, staring down at the mirrors. The glass shuddered slightly before shifting into what seemed almost like thick, rippling water. The two boys glanced at each other nervously.

"That's meant to happen," Sirius' voice wavered a bit.

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

"Err…" The glass went solid again and emitted a soft bluish glow and Sirius smirked. "Yes. Meant to happen."

"Smug bastard." James shook his head, although he himself was grinning proudly as he cautiously tapped the glass of his mirror with his finger to be sure it had indeed taken its prior form again. "Right then. You've got that spell written down?"

Sirius reached into his back pocket for the scrap of parchment he had jotted the incantation onto. He held it out to his friend. "Don't fuck it up."

James rolled his eyes and snatched the parchment from him. He frowned. "This is it? Seems too simple…"

"No, I made it up just to bloody see what would happen."

"Alright, alright. Sheesh. No need to bring out the snippy attitude."

Sirius flipped a finger up at him and James sighed, using his index finger to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He touched the tip of his wand to the glass of his mirror as Sirius did the same to his own.

"Adversus Cogitatio."

The mirrors both flashed brightly, making James and Sirius flinch and shield their eyes. After a few seconds, the light dimmed and the two boys exchanged uncertain looks. James cleared his throat and lifted his mirror to eye level. "Er… Sirius?" He said clearly to his own reflection, feeling a little stupid with his best friend sitting only inches away from him. There was a moment of anticipated silence and then-

"SWEET MERLIN!" Sirius' horrified scream made James jump and he nearly dropped the mirror in his hand.

"WHAT! WHAT IS IT? WHAT'S WRONG?" He asked, panic-stricken as Sirius gaped wide-eyed at his mirror while clutching at his chest.

"I… I just…" Sirius swallowed hard, regaining his composure. "Sorry, I'm just so used to looking in the mirror and seeing this beautiful son of a banshee, and now suddenly there's your ugly mug staring back at me." He snickered as James reached over and swatted him on the back of the head.

"You prat! You made me think you- Wait, it's working?!"

Still laughing and wiping the corner of his eyes, Sirius nodded. "Yeah, mate. Take a look." He brought his mirror up again. "James."

The glass of James' mirror rippled in a fluid-like motion and suddenly his reflection was replaced with Sirius'. "Merlin's pants. It bloody works!" He laughed gleefully. "Oi, Pads, go down into the common room. I want to see if it stays connected." He waved his hand towards the door and Sirius practically bounced off the bed with excitement.

Sirius bounded down the stairs to the common room with the silver handle of his mirror clutched tightly in his hand, skipping several steps at a time and nearly knocking over a very confused Remus and Lily when he got to the bottom.

"Where's the fire?" Remus asked, one eyebrow raised as he cautiously looked over his boyfriend's expression for any sign of mischief that may be his responsibility to clean up later on.

Sirius grinned. "James and I may have just figured out the mirrors." He turned his attention back to the one in his hand. "Prongs can you still hear me?"

"HELL YEAH! THIS IS THE MOST BRILLIANT BLOODY THING EVER!" James' voice responded. "We can talk no matter where we are!"

"I know, mate! It's like we'll never even have to miss each other-"

Lily blinked a few times, her eyes wide and owl-like before turning back to Remus. "You're sure it's you he's dating and not Potter, right?"

Remus sighed and shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder…"

Sirius scoffed. He was about to come back with a witty comment about Moony's ass being far better than Prongs' any day, but he was interrupted when the portrait swung open and a disheveled and guilty-looking Peter stumbled through, tripping in his haste and falling flat on his face.

Lily, Remus, and Sirius all stopped to watch Peter scramble to his feet and brush himself off, a rather silly grin plastered to his round face until he realized he was being stared at by his very amused friends. The grin faded slightly and the boy turned red.

One of Sirius' sleek black eyebrows quirked up and he smirked knowingly. "Alright, Wormy?"

Peter let out a nervous squeak of a laugh, his hand darting up to run through his blond hair. "Me? Er… yeah! Great! I… I'm fantastic, really us-"

Remus' and Sirius' eyes met briefly and they both bit their lip so they wouldn't laugh.

"Had a nice time with the lovely Miss Emmeline, then?" Remus asked in the most conversational tone he could muster.

"Oh," Peter stuttered. "Th-the best!"

There was a loud snort and Lily tried to cover it up with a fake sneeze although Remus and Sirius could see her grinning under her hand.

"MERLIN, MATE, DID WORMTAIL GET SNOGGED?" Came James' flabbergasted voice from Sirius' pocket.

—-

"Y'know what's brilliant about this prank?" James hissed excitedly. He and Sirius were under the invisibility cloak, which could no longer hold all four Marauders underneath. Not that it mattered, with Remus being busy with his prefect duties and Peter constantly running off to find Emmeline, it seemed to be just the two of them most of the time, these days anyway. "It's inconvenient, but not dangerous. It's bloody hilarious, and to top it off, it will piss Snape off more than anyone else without him even being the sole target." The bespectacled boy snickered to himself as Sirius managed to unlock the door to the Potions supply closet, where they planned to charm the feet of the cauldrons to disappear whenever someone tried to place them over a flame, causing the cauldrons themselves to roll away. Sirius made an undetermined sound that James took as agreement and he went on. "I've got to say, Evans not being friends with ol' Snivelly certainly made pranking the Slytherins much easier. Less chance she'll hex me for it, y'know?"

Again, Sirius didn't give a committed answer. If James didn't know any better, he would think his best friend was getting annoyed with him. He ignored it.

"I just sort of thought that once that git was out of the way, she would be more open to maybe going out on a date with me. I mean she-"

This time Sirius sighed loudly, and James couldn't ignore it anymore.

"Alright, what's wrong?" He asked, folding his arms and staring hard at the back of his friend's head. He saw Sirius' shoulder slump slightly, clearly whatever was bothering him was something he didn't want to say, but it had gotten to the point where he felt he had to. The shorter boy turned to face him.

"Look, James…" Sirius exhaled sharply, rubbing the back of his neck. "Don't you think enough is enough with this whole 'waiting around for Lily Evans' thing?"

James' face fell. His brows furrowed together and he seemed mildly affronted. He opened his mouth to argue but Sirius cut him off.

"It's just," Sirius started slowly, trying to find the right way to break what the rest of them had all been thinking to him. "We're all growing up and pairing off. Frank finally asked Alice out, Dorcas and Marls are still going strong, Remus and I are… well… y'know… Merlin even Peter is off snogging his bird! Don't you want to experience any of it?"

James shook his head. "It's only a matter of time, Padfoot! I mean look at how far we've come-"

"Lily can tolerate having a conversation with you that doesn't involve screaming or hexing," Sirius said firmly, his eyes boring into James'. "With some more time and being forced to mingle, since the rest of us are close, you two may eventually become friends. But you won't be if you keep hounding her for dates and writing love poems and acting like a prat."

"Alright, so we become friends, and then-"

"Mate, it took her six years to be able to even look at you without gagging. How long are you going to sit around and wait for something that may not even happen?"

James didn't say anything. There was nothing he could say. He knew, of course, that the way he had conducted his pursuit of Lily Evans had been foolish in the beginning. To tell the truth, it had started as a joke. The redhead had regarded him with such disdain so quickly in first year, he had thought it was funny to get her riled up with his displays of feigned affection.

Somewhere around third year, it had stopped being in jest. Lily was no longer a prissy, stuck-up little schoolgirl. She was becoming a smart, talented, and fiery young woman who did not think twice before putting anyone, particularly James, in their place. And James found that he rather admired her for it.

Obviously, he was aware that if he ever wanted Lily Evans to reciprocate those feelings, he would have to modify his behavior. However, at thirteen, fourteen, or even fifteen years old, James felt that there were more important things in his young life that came before trying to impress some bird. Even if he did believe her to be The One™.

Sirius needed James more. He needed a partner in crime, a kindred spirit, a brother. He needed the pranks and jokes to keep his mind off the problems at home.

Remus needed him as a reason to laugh and to feel included and accepted. He needed to be a part of something bigger, to leave his legacy at Hogwarts as more than just a werewolf.

Peter needed him so he was reminded of how useful and smart he was. He needed to know that he was an equal and valued person, that he could do things others couldn't, and that he was appreciated for it.

Again he heard Sirius sigh. He turned back around and put a hand on James' shoulder. "You're my best friend. My brother. I want you to be happy." The corner of Sirius' lips tugged up and his face went a very soft shade of pink. "Moony and I are happy. Obviously, Pete and Emmeline are happy. I want that for you as well, you know?"

James snorted. "Sappy git."

"Idiot," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Look, all I'm trying to say is… you don't even have to give up on Evans altogether. Maybe just, y'know, give some other girls a chance. Plenty of kelpies in the lake and all that."

James nodded silently and Sirius squeezed his shoulder. "You alright, then?"

"Yeah," James said, forcing a smile. "I'm fine. You're right. I should try dating a bit, shouldn't I?"

Sirius nodded, a smirk forming on his face. "Only if you don't want to be a terrible, inexperienced kisser." He laughed and ducked when James' hand swatted at him.

"You're such a prat," James grumbled. He sighed and took out his wand. "Alright, enough about my lack of a love life. We've got some cauldrons to charm, eh?