Seventeen Forever

The next day, a sleepy Maguire awoke, her hair sticking up all over the place, very closely resembling a bird's nest. She groaned as her bones creaked and snapped into an upright position, as she arose from her cramped position on the floor and stumbled into the sitting room. Rubbing her eyes, she looked at the large clock atop the ash filled fire place.

"Damn," she muttered, seeing that it was six on a Saturday morning as she conjured a fire. Warmth emanated from the fireplace and she shuffled over to the flames eagerly, her too big slippers slapping the ground beneath her. Something caught her foot and she tripped, unable to catch herself before she nose dived onto the bitterly cold floor.

"Goddammit!" she whined piteously, rubbing her nose frantically as tiny tears stung the corners of her eyes. She looked up from her undignified position to see what had tripped her. A hand drooped off the edge of the couch, the cause of her tumble. Following the now well known hand, her eyes wandered over an admittedly nicely muscled bicep connected to a pair of broad shoulders she had sat atop of on many occasions and finally onto the black, messily mussed hair of Sirius Black. She grinned; this could definitely be entertaining.

~*~*~

Leaning over Sirius with her hair delicately brushing his face, she whispered loudly in his ear. "Good morning, sleeping beauty!"

Black eyes flew open and the now wide awake Sirius jumped about a mile in the air, looking around wildly. Upon seeing Maguire crouched over and laughing silently with her fist covering her mouth, he growled, whacking her on the shoulder, causing her to tumble to the ground.

Again.

"What the hell!" she cried softly, standing up with help from the fireplace's mantle. "Sirius, I am a girl! You cannot go around hitting precious, fragile women such as myself!" She then fainted dramatically for good measure, coming within inches of hitting the ground for the third time that morning. Before that could happen, however, Sirius reached out instinctively to catch her and she fell back in his arms with her head on his chest. Their eyes met for a fraction of a minute and within that small measure of time, something passed between them. He let go immediately and, for the third time that morning, hit the ground hard. A brief wrestling match to sooth a wounded ego quickly wound up with Maguire sitting on Sirius' chest in victory.

"Reckon that they'll...snog...on the date?" Sirius asked between his labored breathing.

She looked at him sharply and scoffed. "Is that all your mind revolves round, Sirius? Sex, food, and...sex? Oh yes, I am so sure Lily Evans will make out with James Potter, her mortal enemy ever since forever...My God, it really has been like forever," she said in amazement, trailing off in thought. Sirius watched her in amusement as she thought, her expressions contorting to fit with the thought running through her mind.

She glanced down quickly, as she was still sitting on him, and said, "What are you doing in here, anyways? Get kicked out for having that gay tryst with James?" This comment caused more chasing around the room and some colorful swearing.

~*~*~

"Ugh," groaned a mysterious lump, which, after further inspection, appeared to be Lily.

Maguire took a running start from the door, with an eager Sirius watching from the sitting room, landed on her lap and shrieked, "Good morning sunshine!"

"Fuck you, I'm trying to wake up! That hurt, you bitch! If I'm hurt, I'm gonna sue," screamed a now wide awake and slightly hysterical Lily who was frantically rubbing her aching neck.

"Who's Sue?" Maguire asked, now that she knew wasn't in trouble. Sirius was behind her, laughing on the floor and banging his fist.

"Never mind, idiot. Get off me!"

Lily suddenly pushed Maguire off her bed which sent her flying and ended with a loud thump. In turn, that woke up Anna, from which ensued a large pillow fight.

All in all, it's been a very productive morning, thought Maguire with a large amount of feathers in dangling from her hair as she went in to whack Lily across the face with her pillow.

~*~*~

A little while later, all of the girls stood in a straight line, grim expressions on their faces, in front of Lily's closet.

They knew their perilous mission.

They knew the dangers.

They were searching for the ever elusive "perfect outfit" for Lily.

Maguire was tearing through Lily's closet, an outfit already taking form in her mind as she directed Lily and Anna to dig through the rubble of clothing that had amassed on the ground. Sweaters, jeans, dresses and tops were strewn across the room as shoes dangled precariously from the desk and other surfaces. Instead of obeying their commander, Lily and Anna were draped around the room, relaxing and letting Maguire go about in her mad rush to style Lily.

"My God, Lil, you obviously didn't unpack this yourself. Who did? I swear I'll pay them to fix up mine," muttered Maguire, knee deep in skirts, tops and pajamas.

"Oh, the house elves did it," her friend answered lazily from her bed, which had piles of clothes strewn all over it.

"House elves?" she asked incredulously, stopping her rampage. "I wish that my house elves could do this for me. That's so unfair!"

Lily looked over at her, shook her head and smiled serenely. "I guess they just like me better."

"Oh, fuck yourself, you know that isn't true," she called from the bottom of the now quite messy closet. She threw out a few more items from the closet, wriggling herself out of the mess. She tossed her hair over her shoulder, catching her breath from the exertion caused her by her efforts. "Here, try that on."

"I'm not your damn Barbie doll," Lily complained as she nevertheless went to try the selection on in her bathroom. She slunk across the hardwood floors, nearly tripping a few times on her way. Just as she was about to enter, the hardwood door to James' bathroom opened and out walked a nearly nude Sirius, a towel being the only thing on his body.

"Shit!" they yelled at the same time and then in another weird bout of synchronization, "What the hell?"

"You--what--ew!" Lily shrieked, hurriedly streaking into her bathroom, mentally trying to destroy the image that was now seared into her brain. The others quickly scrambled out of their respective rooms, eager to see the cause of the commotion.

The scantily clad Sirius was trapped, caught between his room and Lily's room when his friends came out and were met with the image Sirius posed. Upon seeing him, Maguire immediately had to sit down against the wall as she began laughing, tears running down her face in mirth. Eventually, James joined her as he too roared loudly in laughter at the sight his oldest friend presented. Remus couldn't contain himself either, leaning against the wall with his hands pressed over his eyes, shaking in silent laughter. Anna merely giggled daintily, looking down as a blush crept into her cheeks, ever the lady. Lily popped her head out from the bathroom, eyes scrunched shut tightly and yelled, "For God's sake, put some pants on, Sirius. This is not how I wanted to start my day."

Taking it all in stride as he sauntered back into the room, Sirius just smiled and said, "But, my dear, this is clearly the greatest way to start any day."

~*~*~

Lily appeared in the Great Hall around nine o'clock, waiting for James. After the strenuous and tiring experience of dressing Lily, Maguire and Anna had both given her their seal of approval. Stepping almost self-consciously down the stone flagons of the Great Hall, Lily wound her way towards an empty seat on the bench and sat down.

"Pass the pumpkin juice, Maguire. I'm dying," Lily said, reaching for the pumpkin juice. She reached two fingers into the thick, plush white cowl neck of her sweater to stress her point.

Maguire did indeed comply and passed the pumpkin juice, but not before she said, "Oh, here comes Prince Charming."

Lily spit out her sip of pumpkin juice and looked around, choking on a few pumpkin seeds, surrounded by the giggles of Maguire and Anna. James, Sirius and Remus were all strutting--well, Sirius was strutting--down the Hall with numerous girls staring at them eagerly. Arriving at the table, Sirius didn't even look at them and instead, immediately started inhaling as much food as he possibly could, the towel incident of earlier clearly forgotten.

"Jesus, Sirius, hungry are we?" Maguire asked, watching in horror and fascination at how much food he could fit in his mouth. Even though he'd been sitting down for only a few minutes, he was already on his fifth slice of thick, greasy bacon, which Maguire knew for a fact was scorching hot.

"How much can you cram in there? That's sick! You're an animal!"

Sirius wriggled his eyebrows at her, his cheeks bulging with bacon, as she pushed him playfully at his insinuation. Anna and Remus were deep in their own murmured conversation, leaving Lily and James to sit in an awkward, oh-my-God-what-do-I-say silence.

"Do you--"

"Can we--"

"Oh, sorry!" they both said at the same time, blushing at the stupidity and juvenileness of their situation.

"You go," said James, trying to be polite.

"Oh well, I was just wondering if we could go to the Three Broomsticks first to get some drinks and--and walk around after that," she stuttered, blushing furiously for reasons she didn't quite understand.

"Uh, sure, I mean, I guess," James stammered just as nervously. "Do you want to go now, so we won't lose our appetites watching the Beast eat?" he said, nodding towards Sirius, who was still heartily shoving food down his neck.

"It's his twelfth slice of bacon now!" Maguire shrieked in disgust, looking as if she really was going to be sick. Sirius guffawed and immediately started choking on said twelfth slice of bacon. He recovered quickly, thanks to Maguire's sharp elbow to his back, as he instantaneously began vacuuming up everything on the table once again.

"Yeah, let's," she answered, laughing at the indignant expression on Sirius' face, as they quickly made their escape out into the fresh, cool autumnal day.

~*~*~

"It's really pretty this time of year, isn't it?" James asked quietly as they walked through the forest. The leaves were bursting in different hues of orange, yellows and reds but already some were slowly turning to a wrinkled brown. They shuffled through the leaves, sending them flying as they crackled like fireworks.

"Yeah, it's my favorite season," she offered hesitantly, trying to get a feel for this completely alien situation. Potter? And her? Having a civilized conversation of their own free will? "What's yours?"

James thought a minute before answering. "I guess that it'd have to be spring, I think. Yeah, definitely spring time."

"Why?" She was interested now. She had never seen James like this; quiet and sort of reserved. Contemplative is a good word for it, she decided, discreetly studying his profile out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh, well, I don't really know," he answered sheepishly. "I guess because I think the forest sort of comes alive, I guess that's a good way of putting it. I mean, the colors are all so vibrant and the animals are always excited and busy and it just seems like life is at the fullest. Everything is alive, right then," he finished, stuffing his hands into his brown corduroys. "But do you know what the best part about spring is?" he asked excitedly a moment later, a smile lighting up his face.

"What?" Lily asked interestedly. My God, why am I actually interested? She thought in shock. This is Potter we're talking about.

"Spring is when it's my birthday!" He smiled smugly and laughed, his hazel eyes crinkling at the corners behind his glasses as he did so. Lily playfully slapped him on the arm as she rolled her eyes.

"Potter, I swear--"

"James."

"Excuse me?" One delicate, reddish brown eyebrow shot up to its owner's equally red roots.

"Call me James," he mumbled quietly. With that simple gesture, everything changed. They had become closer, somehow. This was odd, from being enemies on the train to being on first name basis a week later. Lily's breathing lost the beat it had been following as her mind whirled around this subtle but oh so complex development.

"All right then...James," she said, trying out the name on her tongue. It had a sort of ring to it. No, that was stupid; it just sounded different. It was weird, not different since different implied it was good; it was definitely just weird. "Well then, will you call me Lily and not Evans?"

Considering that this was one of the things James had wanted most for the majority of his life, he prided himself on maintaining his cool and not having a complete celebratory freak out when she asked him the simple request. He continued walking somewhat calmly and tried not to let his excitement get the best of him, though God knew all he wanted right now was to yell triumphantly.

"Sure," he replied, perhaps a little too quickly. Then hesitantly, he looked at her. "Lily, could we be...I dunno, friends?" he asked, a flush rising to his cheeks in embarrassment. He looked down at the ground, shuffled his feet among the leaves and bit his lip with his hands clenched in his pockets; all signs of how nervous he was. This was unusual to him; he was James Potter, he didn't get embarrassed. She looked up, her head cocked to the side as she considered his proposition.

"Oh jeeze," she said, shaking her head as her long hair blew in the wind. Immediately, his heart dropped and an icy feeling coursed through him. "How'd we do this, Pott--James? I could barely stomach you a week ago and here we are actually having a civil conversation. This is so surreal. I never thought I'd be in this situation."

"Miraculous, ain't it?" he quipped, all the while anxiously praying for her to agree with his idea. She laughed, throwing her head back in happiness. James memorized the image of her in his mind, knowing he'd always come back to that memory since he thought she looked her most beautiful in that instant; carefree, lively, laughing. Her laugh, he realized, had to be his favorite sound in the entire world. He had it defined between the crackling of a fire in its raspy, full bellied sound but still musical and light, almost like the soft sound of water being poured into a glass. He knew it was pathetic to be so infatuated with her but, God, she was his addiction and nothing in the world could make him give her up.

"Nothing short of a miracle, I'd say. I mean, it's not like we're gonna be buddy-buddy and best friends for life or anything," she clarified as she kept her tone level and conversational, trying to read into his motives. He nodded in agreement, somewhat stiffly and she continued. "But I mean, I really don't see why not. Time to bury the hatchet, don't you agree? So, yes, I guess we can be friends, James. I'd like that; the fighting does get a little old after a while, especially considering our new rooming arrangements nowadays."

He looked absolutely delighted at this and she burst out laughing at the expression on his face.

"What?" he asked, unsure of what he had done. Oh shit, did I do something stupid? He thought anxiously.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just the expression on your face. You just look so happy." She giggled and snorted.

"You have a pretty laugh," he finally said, after Lily was done laughing at him. She blushed, clashing horribly with her red hair. "And now you look like a tomato," he said, smiling smugly.

"Oh really!" she yelled, laughing. She bent down, grabbed a handful of leaves and stuck them down his shirt and began sprinting down the path towards the distant sign of the Three Broomsticks. James ran behind her, swearing revenge and only stopping to pelt leaf balls at her, while his laughter and her shrieks mingled in the air.

~*~*~

An utterly bored Maguire drifted through the halls of Hogwarts, looking for something to do. She wandered the halls for the better part of an hour and finally found herself in front of the mahogany doors of the library. Maguire looked herself up and down, trying to decide how to look more presentable for something as authoritative as The Library. A downward pull on her jean skirt, a gentle pushing up of the sleeves of her oversized, v-neck blue sweater to give her that oh-so-studious-and-hard-working look, a hand through the loose strands of her messy bun and she cautiously entered the library, trying to remember if this actually was the right place. Maguire skulked through the shelves, looking for any familiar face. A well known mane of unruly black hair caught her eye and she grinned as she tiptoed around the corner towards it. Sirius was slumped over one of the private tables, leaning over a piece of parchment that had seen better days and muttering quietly to himself. He had his wand out and was poking parts of the battered parchment at random, surrounded by other loose pieces of paper. Maguire tiptoed up to him, listening intently to his mutterings. She leaned over his shoulder, some of her stray brown blonde hair lightly touching his black sweater clad shoulder.

"Hey," she whispered quietly into his ear, trying to get a better look at what he was writing.

He jumped slightly at the sound of a voice in his ear, rubbed his now goose bump-infested neck and, looking over his shoulder, was met with a sheet of honey tinged hair. After a few seconds of spitting out her hair and regaining his composure, he saw that it was Maguire and he smirked, saying, "You actually know where the library is? I'd've guessed you never even knew it was part of the school."

"As a matter of fact, I could say the same to you." She pulled a face at him and he barked his infamous, sharp sounding laugh.

A chorus of "SHHH!" echoed throughout the hall.

Pulling up a chair, she sat down on it with the back of the chair facing Sirius and asked, "What's that?"

He quickly shuffled all his other papers and tried to hide the first piece of parchment he had been poking.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just some, ah, homework," he answered hastily.

"No, it wasn't, there was a drawing on it. Let me see! Come on, Sirius, I'm bored!" she exclaimed, reaching over his shoulder and trying to wrestle it from his grasp. Sirius stood up quickly and reached an arm over his head with the paper. She jumped up on her toes, groping for the paper. Sirius held it out in front of him over the table and Maguire danced around the table, desperately trying to reach the paper. He pulled the paper back towards himself and Maguire twirled around the table again. They were back to jumping, holding and groping for the paper. Finally, an idea struck Maguire.

"Sirius," she drawled, hoping to sound seductive.

He glanced at her as he dangled the paper just out of her reach and Maguire slowly dragged her tongue over her full bottom lip. Sirius' dark eyes widened a bit. Maguire bit her lip and quickly popped open a few top buttons of the blue striped Oxford shirt that was hidden under her sweater. His eyes fixated on her chest and his hand lagged slightly in teenage lust. In that instant, Maguire grabbed the paper and quietly performed a victory dance around the table. Sirius seemed to wake up from a hormonal daze and shook his head as if to clear it. He backed Maguire, who was in the middle of her dance, into a bookshelf. Now it was his turn to grope for the paper. As Maguire almost lost her balance in her effort to keep the paper away from Sirius, he laughed quietly which sent a quick shiver down her spine

They fought back and forth for a few seconds more before Sirius did something rash to make her let go of his paper.

He kissed her.

Her eyes widened in shock, but before she could do anything, Sirius had his arms around her neck to keep her rooted. She melted and kissed back. It seemed her lips were perfectly molded into his. A flurry of emotions swept through her, causing her to shiver again slightly. Sirius pulled her closer, his mouth working over her own in synchronization.

This little piece of perfection only lasted a few minutes before the ancient librarian Madame Grangiere found them with their arms around each other, latched at the mouth, and shrieked, "Kissing? Not in this library!"

She wrenched them apart, each breathing raggedly. "Kissing...far too young...never happened in my day..." she muttered, dragging Sirius by the ear with Maguire walking, trying desperately not to laugh at the prehistoric librarian, by her side. The tiny, quiet little librarian in training, a girl by the last name of Pince, peered around a bookshelf in curiosity, cowering when the fierce librarian shambled by, dragging the two teenagers with her. At the doors, she knocked it open with her cane and whacked Sirius on the back with the rubber bottom, as she hobbled back into her kingdom of musty, old books.

"And stay out!" she yowled ferociously as an after thought, at the retreating figures of Sirius and Maguire who were racing down the hall. When they reached the end of the hall, they finally looked at each other, embarrassed and blushing.

Running a hand through his hair, Sirius finally broke the silence and said, "Aw, fuck it, I've waited way too damn long for this," and grabbed her fiercely, pushing her up against the wall, kissing her again. This time, they both were wary of teachers and ducked into an empty classroom, glancing eagerly at each other out of the corner of their eyes.

~*~*~

After leaving the loud and rowdy Three Broomsticks, James and Lily walked around the lake, contemplating what had happened during the day. Lily let her arm hang down and before she knew it, James was holding her hand. At first she didn't realize it, but then when she felt the extra weight and warmth, she blushed, feeling more than a little confused on how this had happened.

Halfway around the lake, James remarked casually, "You know, we have the first rounds tonight." Inwardly she was surprisingly happy to have a reason to spend more time with him--damn those hormones--but a little bit of her groaned.

"Is it really? I didn't realize that," she sighed, thinking of the pile of homework that leered threateningly at her from her desk.

Oh great, James thought darkly, a scowl crossing his once ecstatic features. Now she doesn't want to spend time with me anymore.

"Do you want me to change it?" he asked hurriedly.

"Oh no! It's just that I didn't know it was tonight. I was just sort of...surprised, I guess," she finished lamely.

"Oh. Okay."

After a while of a slight awkward silence as they each racked their minds for something to say, James finally said, "Are you excited about the game in three weekends?" He was grabbing at straws, trying to make a good conversation and he knew he was making a mess of it.

"Oh, God, yes! I managed to get in some practice over the summer and I think I improved, a little bit anyway. At least, I hope I did," she chattered excitedly, flushing as she realized what an idiot she sounded like.

Although her parents and two sisters, besides Petunia, that is, enjoyed Lily's stories about Hogwarts, Quidditch was one thing beyond them. Her bookish, conservative father, understanding and quite welcome to most Wizarding customs, just could not imagine his seventeen-year-old daughter riding around on a broomstick, almost two hundred feet up in the air. The idea frightened, confounded and amused him, all at the same time.

"You don't need improvement," James reassured her, quickly realizing how stupid that sounded.

"Oh. Thanks," she said quietly, trying to be modest. She had felt that she was always lagging in Quidditch, being a Muggle and all. When she had first made the team, everyone else had stories about Quidditch and she hadn't. To hear that kind of appreciation from her Captain, even if it was Potter--James--who was probably just trying to suck up to her, it still felt great. They walked in silence to the castle, thinking. When they got to the Head compartment, Lily looked at James and she reached up slowly, trying to gage his reaction. She couldn't believe she was actually doing this; what in the hell was going on? Hadn't she just made it clear that they were going to be friends, and just that? He looked down at her and she felt a blush begin to creep under her skin and flush her cheeks; why was this suddenly becoming a problem around this particular boy? For a few minutes they stood, a thousand and one things seeming to take place in the short time span and then she closed the gap between them and kissed him softly. A warmth spread through her from her lips and poured down the course of her body and she broke it off, her breath coming to her quickly. She looked at him; his eyes were still closed, lips still slightly puckered and then ran to her room, whispering her thanks as she became even more confused than ever. James watched her go with a stupid smile on his face and ran to tell his friends how this had easily been the best day of his life.

~*~*~

"Padfoot! Padfoot!" James chanted, running through the Gryffindor common room, startling more than a few people and sending a hysterical first year diving behind the couch. He ran to the seventh year boys' dorm and barged in, looking at an alarmed Remus, whose nose had been stuck in a book.

"That was you down there screaming? Prongs, you've got news. I can tell!" Remus said, looking interested and putting down his large book.

James sat down on his bed and began excitedly telling Remus the about the entire trip to Hogsmeade and what they had done and how Lily had finally kissed him, all in one breath, complete with hand gestures and an excited whoop or two. Clapping sarcastically, Remus said, "Congrats! I'd have never guess Lily would ever kiss you!"

After that comment, Remus was thrown off the bed and they had a raucous pillow fight. During this pillow fight, a dazed Sirius stumbled in the room. A pillow was promptly thrown at his head upon his entrance, courtesy of Remus.

"Oy! What the bloody hell was that for?" he yelled, fixing his now unintentionally tousled hair.

"Mistake, mistake. But listen to this!" Remus said nonchalantly, getting back onto his bed and picking up his book again.

"What?" Sirius asked, crouching down on the ground.

James stood up proudly and, puffing out his chest like a pompous peacock as only a teenage boy can, stated, "Today is a very great day in the life of Master James Potter. Today, Lily Evans," James paused for suspense and then continued saying in a rush with a huge grin, "Lily Evans kissed me!"

Sirius' jaw dropped, dark eyes widened and he seemed dumbstruck, desperately trying to form words to express his shock. The news quickly sank in and soon, he was rolling around on the floor, holding his stomach and roaring in laughter.

"Hey! Shut it, you!" James cried indignantly as he tackled Sirius

"I'm just wondering," Remus mused after various punches, tackles and curses had been thrown back and forth. "What, Sirius, you were looking so...dazed about when you walked in here?"

Cracking his knuckles uneasily, Sirius said, "Nothing. Eh, erm, just nothing."

"Liar!" James accused from under his bed, trying to retrieve his glasses.

"Oh, shut up, James, what do you know?" Sirius said darkly as he stalked out of the room and down the stairs into the common room.

"Wonder what's up with him?" Remus asked bemusedly.

"I'll find out," James said as he wiggled out from under his bed and ran out of the room after Sirius.

Sirius sat on the couch closest to the fire, moodily staring into it. James stood on the landing overlooking the common room and studied him. Various students were milling around the common room thought there weren't as many as usually due to the Hogsmeade weekend. Lily, Maguire and Anna were in the far right hand corner of the room, talking and working on what appeared to be homework. Sirius, slightly inching closer to the fire, spread his legs apart and placed his elbows on them. He rested his face in his hands and stared at the fire for a long time. After a while, James noticed Sirius' head and gaze would flicker to the corner that Lily, Anna and Maguire occupied and just as quickly glance back to the fire.

What's he staring at? Probably the girls, I bet. But why? Aw shit. Oh no...James thought, a sudden horrifying thought dawning on him.

Oh, I'm gonna be sick.

~*~*~

Maguire was half listening to Lily and Anna, as she doodled all over her Charms homework. The other part of her mind was still back in the library and directed near the certain person sitting in front of fire in the common room, causing her heart to race frantically just at his mere presence.

What is wrong with me? She thought agitatedly.

"Hello? Maguire? Uh, hello?" Lily said, waving her hand in front of Maguire's face.

"Huh? Oh, she's a bitch. Yeah, hate her..." Maguire quickly slipped back into her fantasy land.

"Well, I mean, I can't say that I haven't thought the same for the past seven years but I think I'm actually coming around to Pot--James now, strange as that sounds. What's wrong with you? Were you even listening?" Lily asked, looking intently at Maguire.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. It's, um, ah, nothing."

"Someone's hiding something..." Anna said in a high pitched, sing song voice that earned her a slap on the arm.

"By the way, what did you do when I was at Hogsmeade? Anna said she didn't see you at all and I was gone for almost four hours," Lily inquired.

Maguire reddened somewhat and said, "Oh...you know. Stuff. I went to the library. Hung out there for a little bit. Talked with, uh, Sirius. Got kicked out of the library. Stuff," she said, trying to sound casual, but blushed madly when she mentioned Sirius and the library. Lily studied her carefully; Maguire only blushed when she was lying and this deep red flush rising to her friend's cheeks definitely indicated that she was in fact hiding something.

"How'd you get kicked out of the library?" Anna asked, curious.

"Uh, I was too loud--no. I was too, uh, too...you know? I don't really know why I got kicked out," she finally decided lamely, her cheeks throbbing from the intensity of her blush.

"Okay..." Lily said with an eye roll. She shot her a quick, narrowed eye look, plainly stating that she would get it out of her later. Maguire sighed and glanced at Sirius quickly. He looked at her at the same time and they both blushed and turned away. Lily saw this and frowned to herself.

What is up with her lately?

~*~*~

She's just a girl. Another girl who you're going to fancy for about five seconds and shag for ten more. Damn it, she is just a girl! Sirius' thoughts growled angrily at him, as he continued staring into the fire. A girl, she is just a girl. Another random girl who I've snogged. This has happened, he thought, trying to argue reasonably with himself.

Then why the hell do I feel like this, the other half argued. And she's not just any girl. It's Maguire, for God's sake. I've known her forever. I mean, I grew up with her. It's Maguire. Maguire. Maguire. She's just a girl...with the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen...and the sweetest smile and the most gorgeous girl I've ever known...and it's Maguire.

~*~*~

Sirius. Sirius Black. Sirius Orion Black. The infamous player who's dated hundreds, no, thousands of girls. Why should I be interested in this piece of player scum, even if he is my best friend? He's just a guy, nevertheless. Another human being of the opposite gender who I am, okay, slightly interested in, but only because of these hormones. Why do I care, it's Sirius...who just, you know, happens to have the softest eyes and the strongest arms...that adorable grin...Sirius. It's Sirius.

~*~*~

Later that night, Maguire stumbled down to the common room, rubbing her exhausted eyes and plopped down onto a chair and curled her legs up under her. She hadn't been able to sleep. She just kept thinking about...she wasn't going to say it, no, no, no...him.

Why do I feel like this? Her mind screamed in frustration. It's just Sirius. One of my best friends. Always fighting, always bickering and making fun of me. We should be so wrong for each other but that's what probably makes it just so right.

She looked into the swirling flames of the orange light in the fireplace, desperately searching for an answer. Her eyes drooped, closed, and she snuggled deeper into the chair. Minutes later, anyone in the common room would have heard her deep, even breathing and known she was asleep.

Sirius tripped down the stairs, tousling his already tousled hair. He lurched over to his favorite chair in front of the fire and went to sit down but stopped dead in his tracks. Maguire was fast asleep in the chair. My chair, he thought, which gave him a tiny thrill for no particular reason. He stared at her, drinking in every inch of her. Golden, honey tinted brown hair framed her sleeping, angelic face and shoulders; eyes flickering back and forth frantically beneath closed lids framed by thick, black lashes that brushed against her cheeks; pink lips open just a tiny bit, revealing white, even teeth; her tanned, lean legs pulled up under her...

Stop that! Stop it, stop it, stop it. Sirius commanded of himself, physically turning away so he wouldn't stare at her any longer. A girl. She is just a girl, just a girl. But God, do I need her.

Maguire stirred slightly in her sleep and, as she did, her leg fell off of the chair and she awoke with a start. Jumping back into consciousness, she saw Sirius standing over her, eyes wide. She stretched, lifting her arms above her head and yawned, still looking at Sirius, whose eyes just got a whole lot wider...

She suddenly remembered what kind of shirt she had on and her arms flew down to cover herself. Sirius grinned slyly.

"Enjoying the view?" she asked sarcastically.

"It's all right," he shot back.

All right? Just...all right? Wait, why do I care what this idiot thinks about my body? I've already heard his opinion about it... Maguire's confused thoughts ran around in her head.

Sirius saw something flicker in her eyes, but it was gone in a moment. Maguire shook her head and ran a hand through her golden brown hair.

"I'll just be getting out of your way, then," she said coolly and got up, walking past Sirius to the stairs.

She only had the tips of her toes on the cold flagstones when Sirius said quietly, "You know how beautiful you are when you're asleep?" She stopped cold and slowly turned around.

"Pardon?" she asked, her voice just a tad bit more high pitched that it normally was.

"You're beautiful. God damn it, Maguire, I don't know what's going on. What happened today and now...and I just--I don't know what...I just don't know what's what anymore," Sirius said and sat down heavily on the chair and ran his fingers through his own thick, black hair in frustration.

Maguire pulled up an ottoman and sat down, looking at Sirius. His eyes were closed tightly, his jaw clenched and he kept running his hands through his hair. He opened his eyes and Maguire saw so many things; torment, desire and something else, something she couldn't quite place. She shivered slightly.

"Sirius, I--I don't know, either. But I do know that..." she whispered and then stopped, suddenly scared of what she was going to say. Sirius' eyes looked at her pleadingly.

"I want you, too."

~*~*~

The next week went by with nothing out of the ordinary happening. Classes, rounds, Quidditch practice and studying soon became the once more familiar, regular schedule. But one morning--a Friday morning; Lily remembered the exact day because she would always remember that certain Friday--everything changed.

Sirius came bounding down through the tables of the Great Hall like every morning and took his seat next to Maguire. Although no one else could see, he had grabbed her waiting hand under the table as soon as he sat down and she smiled coyly at him. Sirius grinned right back at her and used his free hand to grab a large, warm blueberry muffin from the basket in front of him. His hand was halfway to the basket when he seemed to change his mind. Suddenly, he reached over, took Maguire's face in his hands, and kissed her softly for a few seconds and then grabbed the muffin and began savagely ripping it apart. The Marauders, Lily, Anna and half the female population in the school stared in shock at what they had just witnessed. A few minutes passed before the shock had registered in the minds of the Hogwarts students', whose normally earth shattering din was now only a mild-mannered, dull roar. Even Maguire seemed a little stunned at what had just taken place.

"Wait--what? Wha--?" asked a confused James, looking from his best friend to Maguire and back. Lily's mouth was open as she sputtered wildly, trying to make a cohesive sentence as Peter looked on in a bewildered, dazed sort of way. And, as always, Remus looked like he already known what was going on, a small smile playing around his lips. Maguire, now over her shock, grinned widely and ran her hand through Sirius' black mane, sending an unnoticed shiver down his spine.

"Hmm?" said Sirius, who had begun reading the Daily Prophet while continuing to devour his muffin. He looked up at his astonished friends and said, "What? Maguire and I are dating."

Please, dating, does that even qualify for what I feel for her? He thought to himself with a smirk sent in his girlfriend's direction.

Lily's eyes enlarged in shock and she whispered, "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God."

"For how long?" asked James, still in a minor bit of shock at his best friend going out with whom he had thought that aforementioned best friend had only considered a friend and 'partner in crime'. James reckoned that he now knew exactly what kind of crimes they were doing.

"Oh, I don't know. A week or so, I'd guess," said Maguire distractedly, eating a bowl of cereal with one hand, the other still clasped with Sirius' that was now residing on top of the table, broad as daylight for anyone to see. She glanced up at Sirius out of the corner of her eye shyly and glanced away, a blush flushing her already rosy cheeks when she realized he had been looking at her as well.

They don't even know the half of it, she thought to herself.

She looked up at the gaping mouths before her and cried, "What? My God, we're just dating. There are a lot of worse things we could be doing, but I won't venture there." She resumed eating her cereal.

'Just dating', the black haired boy and brown haired girl thought ruefully at the same time. Can I even call it just that?

A small, red headed third-year girl came up to Maguire, tapped her on the shoulder and said, once Maguire had turned around, "I hate you!" She burst into tears and ran straight out of the Great Hall.

"Whoa. Someone's been reading too many romance magazines," Maguire answered, as cool as a cucumber after a few seconds of silence. And with that, the matter dropped.

Sirius Black and Maguire Burgess were officially dating.

~*~*~

"Maguire," Anna called down from the balcony of the seventh year girl's dorm overlooking the common room. "Can you come up here real fast? I, uh, need some help with my homework."

"Sure," she called back, jumping up from the couch in front of the fireplace, where she had been doing her own homework with Sirius, probably not getting much done, given her choice of a study buddy. She lightly walked up the stairs and into the dorm, which was empty except for Anna.

"What's the prob--" she started to say when a loud slam of the door behind her startled her. Lily had shut the door and locked it with her wand and was now guiding Maguire over to a bed.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked calmly, allowing herself to be led.

"We just want to have a private talk with you," Anna said, perched on her own bed, cross legged. She swung her silvery blonder hair over one shoulder and began to braid it.

"Maguire, we're just...worried," Lily began hesitantly, looking at Anna for support.

"It's not that we're not happy for you, it's just that, well..." Anna trailed off, biting her lip.

Realization dawned on Maguire. "You don't like me dating Sirius."

"No! Oh gosh, no," Anna quickly assured her; a little too quickly. "We're just...concerned. For you, of course."

"We just want you to, you know, not get hurt," Lily finally said, a blush rising to her cheeks as she looked at her friend worriedly.

"And why would you think that?" she asked stiffly, trying very hard to control herself.

"Maguire, you can't act like you don't know about Sirius', well, reputation," Anna murmured, her fingers deftly plucking hair over and under to form her braid. "We just want to make sure that you know what you're getting into. He is a bit of a ladies' man, you have to admit."

"Sirius," Maguire murmured, looking at them, "would never hurt me. We've known each other for so long. He--he wouldn't." The falter at the end of her sentence said everything.

"I know, I know," Lily crooned soothingly. "But we just want you to be careful, that's all. We're just trying to be good friends."

Maguire sighed heavily. "I know, I'm probably just overreacting to you guys. I'm sorry. I'm just new at this, okay? I don't really trust myself. Like, how could I land someone so amazing as him?"

"Oh no, you don't," Lily threatened and Maguire looked at her, confused. "You are an absolutely amazing girl, Maguire. Don't you dare underestimate yourself. Has he been saying--"

"No! No, no. He's done nothing but be an absolute angel to me," she assured them. She giggled and snorted delicately. "Angel...oh, that's weird, so weird. Never thought I'd use that word to describe Sirius Black."

They laughed and the tense atmosphere dissipated and, like true teenage girls, they studied and analyzed everything Sirius had said or done since the week of their stepping out.

~*~*~

The next day, the first Quidditch game of the season, was a day of streaking lightning and booming thundering, just "the way I like it," Sirius had claimed over breakfast as the team loaded up for the match. The game, Slytherin versus Gryffindor, was a game that had been highly anticipated since school had started. So, on October second, the team trooped out into the pouring rain, greeted by cheers and yells and boos and hisses, given and received by respective friends and enemies. The captains shook hands, each trying to break the others' fingers.

Lucius Malfoy looked into James' eyes and hissed coldly, "Better watch out, Potter. Save yourself the embarrassment and walk off the field now, since we're clearly the superior team, you bloody traitor."

"Screw off, Malfoy," James spat angrily, and with that, he turned around and stomped back to his broom.

"Players, on your brooms!" screeched Madam Hooch and she blew the whistle. The teams kicked off and the game had started.

"And Gryffindor's Lily Evans has the Quaffle! Look at that girl go! Very nice figure, she's got--ow! Sorry, Professor, sorry! Besides, from what I hear, she's Potter's piece. OW! Anyhoo! She swerves, she ducks and...yes! She scores!"

The commentator, Sam Jordan, another 7^th year Gryffindor, was of an excitable nature and a stern Professor McGonagall was hovering nearby, ready to tug on his ears as a reprimand for any remark she deemed inappropriate or biased. Lily, blushing madly from Sam's comments, flew over to the cheeky commentator and whispered something in his ear and that seemed to have quite the effect on him, as he quickly shut up.

"Ten- zero Gryffindor! The Slytherins are looking pretty mad with Malfoy yelling at the Keeper, Michelson. Better watch out, guys! Sirius Black and Maguire Burgess are whacking some pretty hard Bludgers!"

One of the hard, maroon balls just narrowly missed knocking Malfoy out of the sky, forcing him to position his broom vertically to avoid the hurtling ball. He righted himself and started swearing furiously at Sirius, who was pulling faces at him.

Oh God, Lily thought, shaking her head ruefully at Sirius' antics as she flew higher. This is going to be interesting.

~*~*~

An hour later, lightning once again ripped open the sky, as pieces of hail competed with the Bludgers for knocking people off their brooms. Pelting rain hurt just as badly as any whack from the balls as the players zoomed through the dark sky, desperately trying to stay seated on their brooms and concentrate. Lily's arms ached, but she kept on hurling one Quaffle after another into the Slytherins' goal posts. A particularly close bolt of blinding lightning caused some screams to emit from the stands.

"What's this? Has--has Potter actually seen the Snitch? Yes! He has! He's going into a dive! Holy fuck--oops, sorry Professor--he's heading straight towards the ground! Sweet, looks like Malfoy's not going to catch up to him. Ten Galleons for me--did I just say that out loud? Clearly I was joking, Professor, clearly. No need for a detention now, let's not get testy. I mean, uh, go! C'mon, James, move it! Ow! Sorry, Professor! Ow!"

McGonagall was pulling Sam's ear, scolding him for preference to the players and illegal betting, but the gleeful Gryffindor could care less; he kept spouting out James' feats with such admiration that McGonagall gave up, knowing no number of ear tugs would stop him. James was a blur of a vertical line, heading directly towards the ground, clearly seeing something no one else could. Was it the Snitch?

Lily zoomed higher to reach a Quaffle that had been chucked to her by a team mate, when a cheer went up in the crowded, drenched stands. James had caught the Snitch! James looked up at Lily and she beamed down at him, but his elated expression quickly turned to one of horror. He was looking at something behind her and suddenly kicked his broom into high gear, as he tried to race up to her. She turned around quickly with enough time to see the Bludger coming at her, hit by an angry Malfoy.

Almost in slow motion, she saw the ball hurtling towards her and heard the sickening crack as it collided with the side of her soaking wet head. Screams of horror came from the stands as the spectators watched her drop like a dead weight off of her broom, spiraling towards the ground, unconscious. She saw no more, as velvet blackness invaded her mind and the air whistled and screamed around her ears as she plummeted towards the ground.