A/N: The boys are growing up indeed! I'd like to apologise on Sirius' behalf for his ridiculously crass comments in this chapter. Believe me, I'm as shocked as Remus (especially as in my mind he's still about twelve!) Anyway, enjoy :)

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Chapter 37 - Love and Friendship

For the first time in his life, James was beginning to doubt himself. It was an odd feeling. It felt a little like something was deflating inside him. He was thinking more and it seemed somehow as if the world had got bigger - or perhaps he was just seeing more of it. He wasn't sure he liked it at all.

"Sorry." He said, quickly moving his books over to his part of the table so some of the girls from their year could join him in the library. He smiled at them then put his head down and continued writing. It was a particularly difficult essay for potions and since he and Sirius had exploded Snape's cauldron again not so long ago he knew he needed to work extra hard to impress Slughorn with it.

"Thank you, Potter." Lily Evans said, settling herself down beside him and spreading out her own potions books. "Essay on moonstone and dragons blood?" She asked, looking over at what he was writing.

James nodded and looked up. "Yeah." He said. "Bit of a bugger."

"Have you mentioned Hungarian Horntails?"

"Sorry?"

"Hungarian Horntails." Lily repeated. "They're a particularly fierce dragon breed and their blood's especially magical. There's a pretty good book on them in the care of magical creatures section if you want to check it out."

"Thanks." James said and he smiled at her.

He'd given up trying to convince Lily Evans to go out with him. She'd been so angry with him after the way he'd treated Snape last term that she hadn't spoken to him since and he'd had the sense not to pursue her. He wondered vaguely why she was suddenly being friendly with him now.

"How was your summer, James?" Sylvie asked him from the end of the table. Sylvie had grown up as they all had. She had highlighted her blonde hair and styled it short now. She also often wore makeup and jewelry (before being told just as frequently to take it off by Professor McGonagall).

"Great." James replied. "My mum and dad weren't too happy when they heard Sirius and I wanted to be aurors but they still let us do pretty much whatever we wanted."

Lily frowned at him. "That's a bit interfering. Isn't it up to Sirius' parents to worry about him becoming an auror?"

"He moved in with me last Christmas." He told her. "And his parents aren't really the type to worry about him." That was putting it lightly. They hadn't even bothered to ask after their son since he'd run away last year.

"That's good." Sylvie said. "They sounded awful. From what he ever told me that is." She sighed a little sadly.

James looked at her. It was a shame Sirius had never felt able to open up to Sylvie in the way he had with James and the others. Their relationship had only lasted a few months but James, after spending so much time with Sirius this summer, thought he could finally understand his friend's dismissive way of relating to girls.

"It's not your fault." He told Sylvie. "You didn't do anything wrong. You probably just reminded him of his mum."

Sylvie looked deeply offended. "What, that horrible witch on the platform with black hair?"

James grinned, remembering the last time he'd seen Walburga Black at the platform. "It's complicated." He said. "He's complicated." Though was that really true? "Well, he's not really. I suppose most people are quite understandable if you take the time to get to know them."

"Gosh Potter, that's shockingly mature of you." Lily said, her eyebrows raised.

"Thanks." He said, picking up his quill and going back to his potions essay. Lily could mock him if she wanted to but when it came to his friends he took it seriously.

While his relationships might not last very long, Sirius Black seemed to have no problem getting into them. Within the first week of term he'd successfully asked out Gladys Vanderbilt, a pretty American seventh year with brilliantly white teeth, long blonde hair and flawless, tanned skin.

"Bloody hell Padfoot." James said as he pointed her out in the great hall. "Don't you have any originality? She's basically a witch version of your bloody poster. The only difference is she's fully clothed."

"More's the pity." Sirius grinned as Remus coughed over his cornflakes. "But yes, I know. Isn't it brilliant?"

"Well don't you want a girl with a bit of personality?" He looked over at Lily who was peeling a kiwi fruit with her wand.

"I don't see why it matters." He said, tossing his hair and reminding James (though he'd hate to know it) of his cousin. "It's not like I want to marry her."

"Why not?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, why not?"

James felt himself colour a little. Why was this something he felt the need to defend? "Well if you like a girl don't you want to be with her forever?"

Sirius gave him a cool, almost pitying look. "Certainly not." He said. "Life's for living and getting as many experiences out of it as you can. I, for one, intend to bed half the women of Hogwarts before I graduate."

Remus spat out his pumpkin juice. "Excuse me?!" He said, staring incredulously at him.

"Well, only the ones who are of age." Sirius amended quickly.

"Which isn't what you said." Remus reminded him.

"I said women didn't I?!"

James had to admit feeling a little shocked by Sirius' comment too. He wasn't even of age himself yet. This wasn't what he and Gladys were up to on their secret rendezvous behind the flutterby bushes was it?

But then James supposed Sirius just was so much older than the rest of them. Though his birthday was only a few months before James', he'd always had this confident maturity about him (when he wasn't hexing people or turning Snape upside down in the corridors that is). It shouldn't really have been a surprise to James that his devil-may-care attitude to life extended to girls (sorry, women) too.

"Don't worry Moony, I'll keep it PG." Sirius said, grinning. "But ask me later and I might give you some tips." He added with a wink. Remus went quickly back to his cereal.

James considered Sirius welcome to the flocks of adoring girls who converged on him in the corridors and great hall. He sometimes spotted Gladys glowering over from the Hufflepuff table whenever this happened but Sirius didn't seem to notice (or care).

This was one of the few ways in which James felt he and Sirius differed. James couldn't understand how his friend could entertain these shallow, superficial relationships with girls when they never really went anywhere. Wasn't the whole point of a girlfriend to have someone you loved to spend time with? Why would you even want to talk to other girls if you already had a girlfriend?

He glanced over at Lily again. She and Bessie seemed to have cast some sort of voice changing spell on one another. They were both taking it in turns to speak and laughing as gargles, croaks or, bizarrely enough, a thick American accent issued from their mouths.

"Well hey there, I'm Gladys!" Lily said, tossing back her thick red hair in imitation of the American girl. "It's swell to meet y'all."

Bessie laughed. "I think Gladys is from the west coast." She said.

"Aw shucks, my bad."

James smiled. She really was very cute.

As James had neither success with Dumbledore nor with Lily, he decided to focus his efforts where he knew he'd see results. Quidditch.

It was his second year as captain and, determined to win the quidditch cup for the second year running too, he called his team to an early practice.

"I'm still going to hold tryouts." He told them as they gathered on the pitch first thing in the morning. Though he already had a full team he had to be totally sure it was the right one. "We've got to win the cup this year and I'm sure you'll agree I need to make sure we've got the best players. If you're not chosen it's nothing personal. It really is just about what's best for the team."

Unfortunately, Consuelo Martinez didn't see it that way. Though he'd only recruited her as chaser the previous year, her performance had become increasingly sloppy and she was showing up later and later to practice.

She didn't even seem to try during the tryouts and made sarcastic comments to James about whether she was doing it 'how he wanted' or not when she caught the quaffle.

"I'm sorry." He told her, pulling her aside after tryouts. He'd decided to give her the bad news in person rather than wait for her to find out when he pinned the team list to the common room notice board. "But I'm afraid Amber just flew better today. It's really nothing personal." It was true, but equally he knew Amber Fletcher, who was likeable and enthusiastic, would also be far less likely to upset the rest of the team during practice as her fiery predecessor.

Consuelo took it very badly. She shouted at him in Spanish, slapped him round the face and stormed off, shuddering with fury as she marched.

James put a hand to his cheek and stared after her. Was that just her Mediterranean blood or had he delivered the news badly? And then he caught himself wondering why he was even questioning himself in the first place. He never used to question himself about anything. What was happening to him?

He decided to ask Sirius for his advice later in the common room. "Aha, yeah sorry mate. She sort of hates me right now. I think she thought we were dating after we… anyway, I don't think it's really you she's so angry with."

James sighed. When would people get it out of their heads that he and Sirius weren't actually the same person. He treated girls with respect. He supposed Sirius had helped him though. His confidence in himself as a good and fair quidditch captain had been happily restored.

With the new team in place they set up a training schedule for three times a week. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. James was delighted to see how much his team was improving. The chasers were passing the ball to one another effortlessly and the beaters' aim was excellent. Bessie was brilliant in goal and James was sure there would be no problem in securing a win in their upcoming game against Slytherin. That is if Regulus sodding Black didn't catch the snitch first again.

"Want me to try and put him out of action for you?" Sirius asked as they walked behind Regulus on their way to transfiguration. "I've got a good shot from here." He pointed his wand at the back of his brother's head to demonstrate.

James was very tempted but declined the offer. Besides it being unsportsmanlike he didn't want things between the Black brothers to escalate again. There had been an incident recently where Regulus, on learning that Sirius had inherited a large amount of gold from their uncle Alphard, had hit him with Snape's invented curse in the library.

Fortunately (as Sirius always was) he was surrounded by students, one of whom ran straight for a teacher (after Madam Pince unhelpfully asked what she was expected to do about it in response to the girl's cries for help).

As when Snape had cast the curse, Sirius and Regulus had been called in for a chat with Dumbledore, which Sirius had left just as angry and dissatisfied as he had been after the intervention with Snape. "Don't know why he bothers." He'd muttered angrily after the headmaster had apparently tried the same 'things we have in common' exercise with the brothers. "The only thing I have in common with that cretinous death eater bastard is my last name. Can I play as an extra beater this weekend? I'll knock the swine out of the sky for you."

Tempted again by his offer, James politely declined. They would just have to win the game on Saturday with Regulus Black playing. James was sure they could do it. They really were excellent.

"Alright team." He said, grinning around at everyone in the changing rooms before the match. He could just about make out the sound of the crowds roaring from the stands. "We're going to wipe the floor with those slimy Slytherin sods. Now I know they beat us last year, but this year's different. This year is our year. We've got the best bloody team in the world so let's go out there and smash it!" He led his team in a group fist-bump and then, throwing their broomsticks over their shoulders, they made their way onto the pitch.

The crowd roared and cheered as the teams appeared. He looked up at the Gryffindor stands where he could just make out his friends who it seemed were waving another banner. James snorted as he read it. Regulus Black is a ****. What would McGonagall make of that he wondered?

"Whoever has that obscene banner in the Gryffindor stands, take it down right now!" She shouted through the magical megaphone. Sirius and Peter grinned and waved it higher still as every student now turned to see what McGonagall was referring to. "Black. Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, come and see me after." She barked as the crowd laughed.

James grinned again. Regulus had seen the sign and was looking livid. James made a mental note to thank his friends later. What a brilliant start to the match.

He shook hands with the Slytherin captain (a thick-necked boy called Lucian Rowle) and then Madam Hooch (the flying instructor who'd started that year) blew her whistle and the two teams shot into the air.

James, who had started with the quaffle, threw it quickly to Amber as they raced with each other across the sky. Amber passed it back to James at goal and James, dodging keeper Rowle's thick neck, lobbed it through the central post.

"And that's ten zero to Gryffindor!" Came the commentator's voice as James grinned and punched the air.

Gryffindor scored another three goals in quick succession after that. James had been studying the Slytherin team's typical formation. He knew what they would be likely to do and he was always ready for them.

"Oh eff off Potter." One of the Slytherin chasers said as James intercepted his pass again.

"Sure will." James said, tucking the ball under his arm and zooming towards the goal.

He sensed the bludger coming more than heard it and dodged quickly to the right where it soared past and hit Regulus instead.

"Friendly fire!" Came the commentator's voice and James grinned as he made out Sirius' laughter from the stands.

James cast his eyes over to the rest of the team every so often. As chaser he ought to be keeping his eyes on the quaffle but as captain his team was the most important thing.

"Leeroy?" He called, frowning at his seeker.

Leeroy Rogers' broom was behaving very strangely indeed. If James didn't know any better, he'd say it had been jinxed. But how could it have been?

When Leeroy didn't reply, he zoomed over to him. "You alright mate?" He asked and his seeker looked up, panic in his brown eyes as he desperately held onto his broom. "It's alright, here, quick." He said, helping Leeroy climb onto his own broom and wondering why Madam Hooch hadn't called for time out yet. Something was clearly very wrong.

Leeroy's broomstick, now free of its rider, gave one last buck and then zoomed off towards the Slytherin stands. James frowned. Had it been one of them who'd jinxed it?

He turned back to the game and saw, with a sensation like a falling bludger in his stomach, what it was that had been distracting the crowds. Regulus Black had seen the snitch. And he had caught it.

The mood in the common room that night was like that of a poorly attended funeral. Remus had offered as much consolation as he could, but none of it mattered to James. They had lost. After so much training. They had lost. And it was all Snape's fault.

"What makes you so sure it was Snivellus?" Peter asked once he and Sirius joined them. McGonagall had apparently shouted at them for 'five hours' about their explicit sign then made them clean up the stands and changing rooms. She obviously hadn't been too upset by it though as the game only ended half an hour ago and they were back already.

"I just know it was him. It's exactly the kind of creepy, underhand thing a vicious git like him would do." James said, scowling darkly.

"You're probably right mate." Sirius said, taking off his shoes and putting his feet on the table. "I expect he did it as a favour to my idiot brother."

"I don't know why you think taking your shoes off to do that makes it OK." Remus said to him, pushing his feet back onto the floor.

Sirius grinned. "Don't worry." He said consolingly to James. "You'll get him next time."

"We said that last year." James said morosely. "And he goes and catches the snitch again."

"Like attracts like." Sirius said. "That's probably why they put the prat in as seeker in the first place. He knows what he's looking for on the quidditch pitch as he sees it in the mirror every day."

"Good one." James said, though he wasn't particularly amused by the joke. His issues with Regulus Black went a little beyond being grassed up to their parents.

Though James was certain he was right about Snape, evidence never materialised and he was left to face the knowledge that they had lost their first match of the year without even anyone to blame it on.

It didn't stop James catching him with a shoe biting hex as they passed him in the entrance hall though. He was always guilty of something. The greasy sod was a death eater after all.

Though it hadn't been a good start to the year for James, some good news for Sirius was that he was now very rich.

"First I'm going to buy a flat then I'm going to buy a motorbike." He said grinning at them as he discussed what to do with his uncle's inheritance. "Will you chaps come round in the holidays? It'll get pretty dull being there alone."

James had insisted that he didn't have to live alone. His parents had made it quite clear Sirius was welcome to stay for as long as he liked. But James knew his friend liked his freedom. He was quite surprised the motorbike came only second on the list.

"Well, poor old Alphard's joined the traitors club posthumously." Sirius said, holding up a letter.

"Who's that from?" James asked.

"Andromeda." Sirius replied. She writes that there is one more 'black sheep in traitor's field' and that there are now three holes on mum's family tapestry. A nice little constellation of woe. How lovely."

"Why would she blast her brother off the family tree if he's already dead?" James asked, frowning at him.

"It's not actually about killing people." Sirius explained as if this needed explaining. "It's mum's way of re-writing history. If we're not on the tree then we never existed." He looked a little sad, but his grin was back in place a moment later. "Oh well, her loss. Because the traitors club is excellent."

He took a bottle of expensive firewhisky from where he'd hidden it under the armchair cushion and a few (probably used) mugs from the nearest table and poured them all drinks. "To Alphard." He said, holding up his mug (emblazoned bizarrely with the epithet 'don't let the muggles get you down') and drained it.

The others copied him. Sirius was gazing out of the window at the night sky beyond and James wondered what it was he was looking at.

"It's Alphard." Sirius said, smiling at him. "About a hundred light years away, but he's there."

He assumed Alphard was a star, as he knew Sirius was too. The brightest in the sky. And James thought he finally understood his funny, fearless friend. Despite his flaws and (though he hid them well) his insecurities, he really was an exceptionally good person.

"He's a bright one." James said, looking out of the window too. "He bet on you."

...

A/N: For anyone who's interested, inspiration for Gladys Vanderbilt's name came from the two wives of the ninth Duke of Marlborough. Consuelo Vanderbilt and Gladys Deacon were both beautiful American socialites and played an important role in the history of the duke's home at Blenheim Palace.

Inspiration for Sirius' mug comes from my younger sister who has one the same.