Arrival Unexpected

Chapter Two

"A man like that is hard to find
"But I can't get him off my mind
"Ain't it sad?
"And if he happens to be free
"I bet he wouldn't fancy me"

-- "Money, Money, Money", ABBA

Lily Evans stood on the edge of Platform 9 ¾ and attempted to heave her heavy school trunk onto the train. She wasn't having much of a go at it though; Lily didn't even break five and a half feet in height, and the trunk and its contents probably equaled double her weight. From its cage on the side of the platform, her Sooty Owl, Circe, let loose a series of encouraging hoots.

Leaning up against the back of her trunk to keep it from sliding back off the train, Lily sat down, stuck a finger into Circe's cage and tickling the beautiful gray-black bird under its chin. She'd gotten it as a gift from her parents for making Prefect last year; her dad had braved Diagon Alley all by himself to place the order for the Australian owl. He had suggested that Lily name the owl 'Orchid', but Lily had by then enough of floral names. Circe took her name from Greek Mythology, the daughter of the sun god, Helios and a nymph named Perse.

With a sudden thunk, Lily found her head no longer leaning on her trunk, but lying on the foot of the train. She looked up, seeing the upside-down profile of Sirius Black lifting her trunk into place as if it weighed next to nothing. He leaned down after securing it, hands on his knees, and looked at her most amusedly. "Need a hand up? That won't be the most comfortable place once the train starts moving." He extended a hand down to her and pulled her into an upright position. She reached off the edge of the train, pulled Circe onto the Hogwarts Express and turned to face Sirius Black.

"My hero," She said dryly, but let a small smile slide through. He grinned at her, opening the door to the next car. She walked through it, and was surprised to find that it was empty. Not so unusual, she told herself, you were at the very end of the train. Most students liked to sit towards the front, hoping to get the best selection from the Snack Cart when the witch brought it by later in the day. Sirius took Circe's cage from her and invited her to sit down. Lily made a bit of noise about needing to go to the Prefect's cabin, but Sirius dismissed that with a broad gesture.

"You have to be a Prefect for the whole rest of the year," he told her, using what he thought was his most charming voice. "Just sit here for a bit and slum about with us mortals." Circe gave another approving hoot, which Sirius acknowledged with a nod and set her cage down on the bench opposite of Lily, as if that settled the matter.

Traitor, Lily thought, as she stared into the black eyes of her beloved pet. Taken in by a few charming words and a bit of flashing teeth, are we?

Sirius sat down not opposite of her as Lily had hoped, but right next to her. She was pinned between the window and him. If he insisted on making conversation, she was going to have to turn her head and sit talking to him with his face less than eighteen inches from her own. Which was of course, probably what he wanted. She still didn't understand what had brought about the sudden change, and she didn't know if she ever would. Like most girls her age, she couldn't look at herself objectively, the girl she saw looking back at her in her mirror didn't resemble a double-ended newt, but Lily certainly didn't think that she was worthy of the attentions of the two most sought after boys in her year. She'd thought long and hard about the events of the previous weekend, deciding finally that James and Sirius had gone out of their way for Remus' benefit. Remus was nowhere in sight now though, a thought that left Lily a tad unnerved.

Sirius was now stroking Circe under her chin, while the great black owl cooed softly at him. "She's absolutely gorgeous." He said, looking at the owl with candid admiration. "She's not native though, is she? I've never seen anything like her in all of England." Circe fluffed her wings a bit, taking pride in the compliments.

"She's an Australian Sooty, they live along the southeastern coast of that continent." Lily replied, rather tersely.

"Long way from home, are we?" he continued, addressing the owl instead of its owner this time. Circe let out the sweet sounding hoot, a sort of 'whi, whi, whi' that was native to her species, enjoying the attention. "What's her name?" he added after another moment of caressing the owl.

"Circe." Lily said immediately. "She turned men into pigs."

Sirius bellowed out a laugh. "Nice name. I'll have to watch myself around her I guess." He flashed Lily another grin. She found herself chiding her own rude behavior. Sirius was being very nice to her, and she wasn't extending him the same courtesy. He certainly had a way with animals, and she reminded herself that Circe was a fairly good judge of character, having given her sister a sharp nip the one time Petunia had tried to pet her. She told herself to relax; she'd have enough to worry about once they reached the school.

Once she let her guard down, Lily found that he made rather enjoyable, if slightly over-attentive company. They passed the next hour amiably enough, chatting about teachers and gossiping about students. Sirius was just finishing telling her a very funny story about a prank from the year before involving Severus Snape, a bottle of shampoo and several shrunken Dung Bombs, when the door to their car opened, and three familiar faces popped in.

Peter and Remus sat down on the bench opposite of her and Sirius. James remained standing. He had already changed into his Hogwarts robes and was wearing his newly attained Prefect badge. He kept adjusting his robes, as if the weight of the badge was making them lay lopsided.

"Hullo!" said Peter, in his merry little voice. "Given up the glasses and the bun for good now, have you?"

She smiled at him, waving to the others. "Mum got me contacts as an early birthday present." Four confused faces looked back at her. "Uhm, it's a Muggle thing... instead of having the glasses outside of your eyes, you have them laying right on the lens." It was a simple explanation, but it seemed to intrigue the boys, who leaned in to look for these miniature glasses that were lying in her eyes. "As for the bun," she shrugged. "We'll see. I promised Mum I'd try and look a bit more like a young lady this year, instead of an old librarian." Chuckles echoed throughout the train car.

"Did you get the owl?" James asked, giving her and Sirius a truly mischievous grin. The morning after the boys had left, a barn owl had appeared at her window, tapping it softly until she opened it up and let it in. Attached to its leg was a small package containing what looked like an ordinary tube of lip gloss and a note that read: Slip this into your sister's purse with our compliments, James & Sirius.

Although the innocuous gloss smelled divine, like vanilla and oranges, the note was enough to stop Lily from testing it out on herself. She'd been on the receiving end of their pranks enough times to know that it was either charmed or imbued with a nasty bit of potion. Instead, she'd heeded their advice, and slipped it into Petunia's purse when her sister had shown up later that day. It had been all Lily could do not to break out into laughter when Petunia's mouth had exploded with a rash of cold sores later that afternoon.

"That was absolutely brilliant!" She exclaimed to the boys now, having forgotten about the incident until James brought it up. "She still had them when I saw her on Saturday too, she's positively miserable." Lily was smiling-- really smiling, Sirius noted for the first time in the whole trip. She positively infected the room with her good mood.

Peter had opened the latest addition of the 'Daily Prophet' and was reading quietly to himself. His lips moved as he did, another nervous habit that the chubby boy had. His face went slightly white. "What's wrong," James asked. "They recall all the chocolate frogs?"

Peter shook his head and held the paper out for the rest of them to see. The headline read: Two More Sleeping Children Found. The story went on to describe how the young children of a prominent wizarding family, the Malkins, had been found ensorcelled into a deep sleep. No known charm, spell or potion had been able to wake them. This was the third such attack in six weeks. Powerful dark magic was suspected, the article said.

"Well really," said Remus rolling his eyes. "What kind of wizard would do such a thing except a dark wizard? Dark magic suspected indeed."

"I heard my mum talking about this the other night," said Peter. His mother was a mediwizard with the Ministry of Magic. "She said those other kids that have been attacked have some very strange symptoms. Vines or roots or something keep growing up around their feet. They had to prop the first few up finally, so that their faces wouldn't be grown over."

"Why not just prune them back?" Lily asked.

"They did! But the vines grew resistance to it; when the sheers stopped working they brought in Herbologists from all over England to try and prune them with spells." Peter's hand slashed through the air, making a cutting motion. "That worked for a while too, but now, nothing. They're afraid," Peter was whispering now. "That the children will die soon."

"Bizarre." Sirius said. "Wonder what that Voldemort is planning... I mean, why kill them slowly? He usually just barrels in with his minions in tow and slaughters the whole family." James winced. "Sorry, wasn't thinking."

James jerked his head towards the cabin door. "The rest of the Prefects are waiting for us, Lily; you better change into your robes and we'll head down. They seem to think that the term won't start until they've had a meeting about it." Lily rolled her eyes at James, standing up to retrieve her travel bag from the overhead compartment.

Change of clothes hanging securely over her shoulder, Lily bid the rest of the boys farewell, asking if Sirius wouldn't mind keeping an eye on Circe until they got to Hogwarts. "No problem, Lil." He replied, adopting Remus' name for her. "I hope your meeting goes well." Lily waved and left the cabin, James stopping only for a moment to give Sirius an ironic smirk before he followed her.

After they'd gone, Remus gave Sirius a small kick to the shin. "When I went to my first Prefect meeting last year, you told me that I was a traitor to the cause, and that you hoped we all ate bogie flavored Beans for lunch."

"Yeah, well," replied Sirius. "People change."

"Sure they do," said Peter, his face flooding with amusement. "Particularly if other people change into low riding bell-bottoms and crop tops." Sirius had stood up, intending to shoulder his own travel bag but instead threw it into the small blond boy's lap. Peter let out a painful sounding "oof" as the bag hit him and then continued laughing.

"Well, if that's all it takes..." said Remus who was standing up now himself. "I'll just have to see if Lil will loan me that outfit." He put his hands on his hips and struck a pose. "What do you say, Padfoot? Would I be snog worthy then?"

Sirius rolled his eyes as he took the bag back from Peter and pulled out his school robes. "Not even close, Moony. But I hear that Snape is awful lonely lately, have a go at him."

* * *

At the very front of the train, as the door to the first passenger car opened, Severus Snape let out a low hiss of disapproval. James Potter had just walked in, followed by Lily Evans-- the last two Prefects to join the meeting. While the representatives of the other houses greeted these two tardy members happily, Severus Snape just glowered at them both.

Snape was a very pale boy, but it didn't make him look sickly. His eyes were pure steel, and seemed to catch everything that went on around him. He pushed a strand of his chin length, greasy black hair back behind his ear, looking hard at James Potter, who was staring back at him with equal resentment.

For many hundreds of years, there was no love lost between Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses at Hogwarts; and since James and Severus played on their house Quidditch teams (the positions of chaser and keeper respectively) their dislike embodied that ancient feud. Severus took it as a personal affront each time James scored on him, regardless of what he said in public about the rest of his Slytherin teammates not doing their jobs well-enough. The fact that his arch-nemesis was now a fellow Prefect was just another canker to Severus. He acknowledged rather reluctantly to himself that Potter had the intelligence required to represent any of the four houses of Hogwarts, but it was Potter's total indifference to the rules that in Snape's mind made the tall boy completely unsuitable for the job. Not to mention the fact that Potter was an arrogant prat.

He was also surprised to see the other 6^th year Prefect of Gryffindor, Lily Evans, talking amiably with the Potter boy. He'd always admired, though never given voice to that admiration, that she had no compunction about taking points away from her own house whenever she'd caught a member of it breaking any of the school rules. For being a Muggle-born witch, he had admitted to himself on several occasions that she wasn't that bad. Being that she was Muggle-born however, Lily was put into a category just above goblins in the opinion of any decent witch or wizard from Slytherin House. There were no exceptions to this rule, ever.

The Head Girl, Justice Munroe from Ravenclaw, was clearing her throat now. The room settled down and gave her its full attention. She welcomed the new Prefects and introduced them all, as well as herself and the new Head Boy to each other. James tried to pay attention as she explained their duties and the rules of giving away or taking away points from another student, but he couldn't keep his mind on it. He could feel Severus Snape glaring at him, and while this was not a new sensation to James, being in such close quarters with the Slytherin Keeper and not having a broom to whack him with just felt wrong. James heard Justice say something about alternating weekends between the fifth and sixth year Prefects to stand watch at their house gates. James looked up, not recalling this being a Hogwarts policy and not looking forward to having to be on duty every other weekend, when he could be doing something much more fun with his time.

"It's a new policy," whispered Lily, who seemed to have a knack for mind reading. "What with all the attacks by that Dark Wizard and his followers, Dumbledore felt it best to try and keep the student body on a shorter leash this year." Indeed, James remembered that death had come directly to Hogwarts' neighborhood last year when a family of six had been cursed to death down in Hogsmeade, the wizarding village that bordered Hogwarts. Lily nodded at him, remembering it herself. "McGonagall wanted to cancel all trips to Hogsmeade this year, but Dumbledore wouldn't have it. Something about the black market price of sweets from Honeydukes going through the roof. What do you think he meant by that?" she asked quietly.

James grinned and muttered under his breath, "Ask me some other time." He and the other three boys had been smuggling bags of candy into Hogwarts since James and Sirius had discovered a secret passageway that led right into the basement of the sweet Shoppe in their first year. They made a nice bit of extra Sickles from the affair, and while they did it less frequently now, he wasn't sure that it was something Lily should know about. No point in letting her in on all our secrets, he thought. His mind raced for a second. The quartet was going to have to have a talk about Lily Evans, he realized. There were a lot of secrets that she might just be clever enough to figure out, if given enough time in their company.

Lily had turned her full attention back to the meeting, voicing a few concerns herself on a variety of matters. He watched her while she spoke, her little red eyebrows furrowing in frustration at the thought of the traditional hazing some of the first years would get later that evening. Her face was very easy on his eyes. Her hair might not be pulled back, and the glasses have been thrown away, but this girl in front of him was most certainly the Lily Evans that he'd known for the last five years at school. The carefree nature that they'd been allowed to glimpse at her house seemed to be packed away with the rest of her summer things. Lily Evans may be the smartest witch in his year, James mused, but she still has a thing or two to learn about having fun. He remembered the stares of near-awe that she'd not seen as they'd made their way up to the front of the train. Not a male member of the student body at Hogwarts had failed to notice the way that Lily Evans had blossomed since last school year. Even Snape was looking at her with something less than his usual glare of disgust in his eyes. He saw Snape's eyes move down from Lily's face (she was still listening raptly to the Head Girl speak) to her shoulders, back and legs, settling for some time on Lily's exposed and shapely ankles. Well, thought James, this is a disgusting turn of events. Watching Snape watch Lily was making him ill, but James couldn't pull his eyes away, feeling that if he did that Snape's slimy eyes might take in more than they should.

"Well, I'm glad that's over," said Justice, the meeting coming to an apparent end. "Now for the important stuff..." James groaned inwardly, not imagining what else there was to discuss. Justice reached into a bag and pulled out her money pouch. "Five galleons say that Sirius Black is the first person to lose house points. Any takers?"

* * *

The start of term feast had gone about the same as it always did, Lily reflected as she led the last of the first year Gryffindor girls to their dormitory, the tower that would be their home for the next nine months. She'd noticed a few curious sidelong glances at her when she accepted the seat at the Gryffindor table between James and Sirius that had been offered to her, but other than that, nothing to note. She'd had a good time sitting with the boys, Remus and Peter sitting on the opposite side of the table from them, everyone talking exuberantly as the Sorting took place. She even laughed a few times when she heard James and Sirius speculating which of the first years would be good prospects for next Year's Quidditch team. Next year? She thought to herself, they haven't even held their first practice of this year yet.

She closed the door to the first year's dorm behind her and made her way down the stairs to the Gryffindor Common room. She plopped down into one of the big comfortable chairs by the fire and closed her eyes for a minute. Sleep sounded so good, but she reminded herself that she still had to make rounds outside of the tower. Everyone had been accounted for at evening check-in, but that was seldom the case for long in Gryffindor House. She was just wondering where he was, when she saw the portrait door swing open, and James Potter walked in. He crossed over and sat in the chair next to hers, handing her a mug of steaming hot chocolate.

"Where did you get this, at this time of night?" She raised a suspicious eyebrow at him.

He took a sip from his own mug and stared into the roaring fire. "Prefect's privilege." He replied, a small smirk crossing over his face.

Lily was about to chide him for being out after hours, but instead just replied "Oh, never mind... this is too good to pass up. I don't even want to know where you got it."

"The where is easy enough, it's the how that is the trick." James grinned at her again. Maybe it's the 'why' too, Lily remarked to herself, but then she just shook her head and remembered that while his behavior was markedly different from last year, it wasn't as if he was acting like Sirius had been. He's just being friendly, she told herself, be friendly back. Don't be so suspicious; you'll be spending a lot of nights like this in the next year.

They finished their drinks and exited Gryffindor tower, talking about nothing in particular while they walked the halls. She asked James if he was upset that Sirius had been selected as Quidditch captain over him, and he replied vaguely "No, I think I got the better end of the deal." When she gave him a look that asked what he meant, he'd just gestured to the wide empty hallways and said, "It's a bit like having the run of the school, isn't it? I never have to worry about getting caught out after hours again." Lily clucked at him, disapprovingly. "Oh please," he said, giving her a slight shove with his elbow. "You have to admit, for as much of a pain as this job is, it does have some bloody brilliant perks."

Lily smiled. "I suppose, it is very nice having your own bedroom."

James grinned evilly. "Nice private place for all of your amorous adventures with the Gryffindor men?"

Lily coughed and gave him a wink. "Who said I've been kissing anyone from Gryffindor?"

"Good evening, Ms. Evans, James," said an aged voice from some distance behind them. "Quiet first night? Yes, I suppose it would be. Give them a week though, and these halls will be filled with students running rampant each night." Dumbledore paused, pulling several pieces of candy out of his pocket, handing one a piece to James and Lily. "Professor Flitwick tells me that you've applied to take some advanced charms coursework from the Ministry, Ms Evans. I was going to call you into my office tomorrow, but now seems as good as time as any. Your request has been approved. Thanks in no small part to the efforts of the late Mr. Potter." Dumbledore bowed his head towards James, acknowledging the recently passed law in his father's memory. Lily flushed again, not knowing what to say. Dumbledore turned and addressed James now. "If memory serves, you have a free period after lunch tomorrow, correct?" James nodded. "Good, come to my office for a visit then, I feel like I haven't seen you all holiday. I shall pretend to be quite shocked by any mischief you feel the need to confess to." Dumbledore tipped his hat and walked away, disappearing around a corner.

Lily and James had started walking quietly back towards Gryffindor Tower. "He's right you know," Lily said, a touch of admiration in her voice. "Because of people like your father, I have a chance to be a full-fledged citizen in the wizarding community. You must be very proud."

James nodded. "He was a very great man. He always said that there was a difference between doing what was right and what was easy. Dumbledore says it too."

"What do you think that they mean by it?" Lily asked.

"Ogre Swill" At the sound of the password, the portrait of the fat lady swung open. "It means," he said looking at her straight in the eyes. "That sometimes breaking the rules is the right thing to do, Lily."

* * *

Lily looked absolutely exhausted when Sirius spotted her sitting down at the end of the Gryffindor table for breakfast the next morning. She was also sitting all by herself. Old habits must die hard, he mused. Ducking around two confused looking first years, Sirius made his way down the great hall to sit next to Lily. She waved at him, failing to stifle a yawn as he sat down.

"Trouble sleeping?" he asked.

"Something like that. I was up all night with James." She was too tired to even notice that he'd flinched at what she'd just said. "One of the first years," she continued, her explanation being much more palatable than what was running through his imagination. "He just broke down. I don't think he realized how very far Hogwarts can be from home. James spent an hour trying to calm him down, and then he finally woke me up for some help. We must have sat up with the poor little thing until four a.m. And once he did fall asleep, it wasn't even in his bed. We'd all been sitting on the couch out in the common room talking when the little tyke fell asleep leaning on me." She let out a sigh, and yawned again. "James brought out pillows and blankets though, and we made the best of it." She chuckled. "You should have seen how wide the boy's eyes went when James was talking Quidditch with him. He looked at James as if he were some kind of god."

"Well, I am... didn't you get the memo at the meeting yesterday?" James Potter sat down opposite her and Sirius at the table. He was failing quite miserably at stifling a few yawns also. "I saw him just a minute ago, he sends his most cordial thanks to the girl with the 'sweet-smelling hair'." Lily made a mock curtsey and laughed. James looked at Sirius now, saying "You should have seen them last night, all curled up, two heads of red hair sticking up from under the covers. It was unbearably cute." James rolled his eyes and grinned at Lily, who threw a piece of toast at him. "They looked like brother and sister." James took the piece of toast and took a hearty bite out of it. "What was his name? Weasel?"

"Weasley," Lily corrected taking a long drink of her mug of coffee. "Bill I think. Or maybe it was Will. Alliterative names sound so odd on the tongue. Don't you agree, Peter Pettigrew?" She turned smirking and faced the blond boy that had just sat down next to her.

"Huh?" Peter asked, looking confused. "Who was the weeper? That little red head?" Sirius nodded and they all turned just as Remus saddled up next to James, swearing under his breath.

"Doesn't that just figure?" He reached into his book bag and drew out a Galleon, handing it to Sirius. "I'm not betting against you anymore this year, I swear." Remus glanced at the others a look of exasperation clouding his face. "He has never missed on a call like that."

Lily let out a small gasp, finally understanding. Her face twisted up in anger and she turned on Sirius. "You... you bet on things like that? On little boys' tears? That's perfectly horrid." She stood up now, starting away from the table. No one but Sirius had the guts to look at her.

"Its not as if I was the person that made him cry," he began, shocked to find himself trying to explain away something that he really felt didn't need explaining. "This is something we've done every year, since our own first year."

Lily spun back around, holding her wand so tight it looked like she was ready to throw a jinx at Sirius. "Five points from Gryffindor." She growled at him and headed out the door.

"For what?" he called after her.

"For being an insensitive prick!" She was shouting back at him now, and quite a few of the students had stopped talking to listen.

Sirius swore under his breath and looked at James. "Can she do that?"

"I hope not," James replied. "I had five galleons that Davey Gudgeon would be the first person to lose house points."

* * *

Lily managed to avoid the four of them for the rest of the day. She'd taken her lunch outside; Tuesdays were her short days for classes and she had fallen asleep under a large oak tree. She woke up several hours later with a slight start when Circe landed gently on her lap.

She gave the black owl a pat on the head and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. It dropped something onto her lap and called her to attention with a sharp hoot. Lily looked down and saw a short white rose with a note wrapped around the stem lying on her lap. She picked it up, and unraveled the note, which was unsigned, but with its simple exclamation of 'Sorry!' there was no doubt who it was from. Lily grumbled under her breath, crumpling the paper up and throwing it over her shoulder, the white rose following it not long after. Circe gave sharp hoot of disapproval. Lily brushed her off her lap and stood up, picking up her book bag and heading back towards the school.

She hadn't gone ten feet when Circe landed on her arm again, shoving the flower at her. Circe dropped it into her hand. Lily cursed and threw it away from her again, saying, "I don't want it Circe!" when the owl flew off after the discarded rose once more. This odd spectacle, a sort of accidental game of fetch, continued right up to the main door of Hogwarts. Finally, Circe had flown out in front of her, still holding the rose, determined that her mistress would take it before she went back inside. "You don't understand," Lily was trying to reason with the stubborn owl now. "You delivered it. I don't want it. Even if I throw it away, you've still done your job."

"I think she understands better than you do actually," James Potter had managed to sneak up on her again. He was wearing his Quidditch practice uniform and looked very tired. He probably hadn't had the luxury of an afternoon nap, she thought. He bent down, and took the rose from Circe, who was hooting animatedly at him. He never took his eyes off the owl, nodding and making agreeable noises until Circe was done 'talking' at him. "She says you're being a stubborn priss." Lily's jaw dropped open and then clenched back up tightly ready to retaliate. James held up a hand, stopping her before she started. "She would also like to know what the difference is between Sirius laying odds on which of the first years would start to cry and the Prefects betting on which student would be the first to lose House Points?" James and Circe looked up at Lily expectantly. Lily mumbled a few things under her breath but finally had to admit that when it came right down to it, there was no difference. "Well then," said James smiling at her and Circe. "There is no reason for you not to take this beautiful flower, is there?" He held it out to her, and Lily was about to speak again when James stood up. "Look, you were right this morning, Sirius is an insensitive git, but he sent your lovely owl out here with the rose to show you that he can be more than that." He held the rose out to her again. "If you'd like to start proving to the rest of the world that you can be more than a stubborn priss, I suggest that you accept it and come join us all for dinner."

Lily gaped at him, and then broke into a slow laugh. James smiled at her and reached down, tucking the white rose behind her left ear. From the ground, Circe let out a gentle hoot of approval. "Sorry," Lily said to her. She looked up again at James, eyes full of admiration and amusement. "Did she really say all that?"

"Course she did." He replied, bowing to Circe as she gave one last hoot before taking off. "She says you need to loosen up too."

"Oh really?" Lily said, cocking an eyebrow at him. "And just where did you learn to speak to Owlish?"

"Long story," replied James, having no desire to reveal his secret status as an Animagus to her. "She really loves you though. She said that too."

"Hmm..." Lily said, watching Circe fly up to the Owlery, her large black wings casting a shadow over them as she rose into the sky. "Is she saying anything else that I should be aware of? Giving away any of my secrets?" Lily smirked at him as he opened the door for her.

"Well, we did ask her a few, uh, delicate questions. She's pretty tight lipped when she wants to be though." Lily didn't believe a word that he said. James gave a soft chuckle and then asked, "Do you really own a bikini with the Union Jack on it?" He took off running as soon as he'd said it, just barely escaping the first punch that she threw at him. Her face wore a mixture of shock and anger as she chased him all the way to the Great Hall, shouting curses at him the whole time. He stopped and spun around, right in the doorway, waiting for her. She was still charging at him, when he ducked down just the right moment and her stomach slammed into his shoulder. He was up and standing before she even let out a grunt; he was carrying her like a knapsack, slung over his shoulder into the Great Hall.

She heard the mumbles and laughter before she could see it. Mostly all she could see was the outline of Potter's ass beneath his tight Quidditch trousers. She was blushing furiously, cursing herself silently for being in such an undignified position and then cursing herself doubly for thinking such undignified thoughts while in said position.

After what seemed like minutes, he arrived at his destination and set her down. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around, so she had to meet the grinning faces of her fellow Gryffindors. "Found her outside, sleeping under a tree." He was speaking to Remus and Sirius, trying to keep his voice from breaking into laughter. "She's awful scrawny, and she makes all sorts of horrible noises. But she puts up a good fight and is kind of cute. Can I keep her?"

* * *

The first few weeks of term passed by very quickly. After the shock of seeing the prim and proper Lily Evans accompanied almost everywhere by four of the school's most notorious troublemakers had worn off, two very interesting things happened. The first was something that James and Sirius at least, had expected; the other boys their age were starting to vie for Lily's interest. Lily was perplexed when people who had spent years avoiding her gaze came up to her, offering to carry her books, or places to sit during meals. By the second week, she became flat out annoyed; James felt privileged to have witnessed one of her outbursts. A seventh year from Hufflepuff named Anton had caught her around her waist as she came out of the History of Magic classroom, asking if she had any opinions about the validity of the 1739 Love Potion Prohibition Act.

Lily had spun on her heels, facing the boy. She gave him a very large eye roll and then snapped. "Think you're clever don't you? Hoping to catch a girl off guard by talking about love and potions and the tawdry romances of days gone by?" She pointed a finger menacingly at him. "Well, for your information, no girl has ever come out of one of Binns' lectures hot under the collar. Why don't you go and sit next to the Quidditch field and see if you can't get a snog out of one of the player's leftovers?" She'd stomped off at that, and James had heard the youth mutter the word 'Bitch' under his breath as he watched her walk away. He may have been upset by her disagreeable attitude, but it hadn't stopped Anton's eyes from watching the gentle pendulum motion of Lily's hips as she swept down the hall.

The second change was much more of a surprise, though it probably shouldn't have been. Sirius and James were both spending a lot of time with Lily, and between Quidditch practice and homework, there wasn't any time left over for the rest of the female population. Several other girls from Gryffindor that had become accustomed to devoting a few hours every week to flirting with them became quite put out. Finally, they accosted Lily in the girls' lavatory; by the time she'd made it down to breakfast in the Great Hall after enduring a half hour tirade, she was practically in tears. She sat down next to Remus and he put an arm around her, prodding her gently to find out what was wrong.

Lily explained what had happened in great gasps between her stifled sobs. Her face was turning very red around her nose and eyes, but she never actual broke down and started crying. "Pick one of you they said. How ridiculous. As if a girl can't have male friends. Its not as if," she said, point across the table to where James and Sirius were sitting. "I was keeping you both locked in my room from dusk till dawn trying to see how many different ways three people could play hide the hamster." Lily had the rather shocking habit of saying the very first words that popped into her mind whenever she was upset. Sometimes, as was the case that day, it was too much. Peter broke out into a great roaring guffaw and knocked over his glass of pumpkin juice. It spilled all over Lily's lap, and she started cursing again.

"C'mon," said Remus. I'll walk you back up to the Tower so you can change and then we'll head off to Arithmancy."

James and Sirius watched her leave and then exchanged a meaningful look. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Prongs?" Sirius asked, a dark look covering his eyes.

James nodded. "Let's get to it." He waved at Peter, who was still mopping up pumpkin juice. "We'll catch you up later, Peter."

They were all sitting in Potions class when the fruit of Sirius and James' morning labors began to bear. The school nurse, young Madam Pomfrey had come into the class, and asked their professor, a small dour woman by the name of Hawthorne if she had a rather large quantity of dried mugwort. The woman got up from her desk, stepping over a large creeping vine that wound its way up a leg of her desk and went to fetch it, asking what it was needed for.

"Ten cases of the worst cold sores I've ever seen," the nurse had replied. She looked across the faces in the classroom, giving all the students a rather sour look. "And the way things travel" she said the word with a great deal of disgust, "in this school, it will be an epidemic by Monday morning." She took the package from Professor Hawthorne and left.

Lily looked around the room; she hadn't noticed it before, but there were quite a few empty seats in her potions class. Most of those missing were Gryffindor girls. She turned around in her seat and stared at James and Sirius, who both were looking at something very interesting on the ceiling. Remus chuckled next to her. She gave him a disapproving glare. "Don't look at me like that," he whispered to her. "I had nothing to do with it. Its not my fault they've appointed themselves the guardians of your honor."

Guardians of my honor indeed, Lily thought to herself. We'll just see about that. There was an hour left of their double Potions class, and it gave Lily ample time to think of exactly what she wanted to say to both of them. She managed to catch James' eye as the class was dismissed, and he hung back, waiting for her. Sirius had practically bolted out of the dungeon door however, making due haste to the Quidditch field for practice.

Lily had just opened her mouth to speak when an icy voice broke the stillness behind them. "Careful Potter," Snape said giving Lily a very haughty glare. "There may not be enough mugwort in all of Hogwarts for whatever her kind carries." Laughter echoed in the dungeon halls from a few other straggling Slytherin students. James looked as if he was about to do something that she would regret, so Lily grabbed his hand and pulled him down the corridor and up the stairs.

"Ignore him," she said under her breath.

"What right has he to talk to you like that?" James asked, still very angry.

"None." Lily replied. "But he wasn't talking to me. Snape is a complete git, but until today he's never insulted me once. Do you see what that means?" James had a thick, unreadable look on his face. "It means that he said that just now to get a rise out of you. I don't think he really means it."

"He still needs a swift kick to the-"

"James," she interrupted. "You can't get into a fight with another Prefect. Especially over something that doesn't affect you personally. Now I've told you, it doesn't bother me. Just let it go." She put a hand gently on his elbow, trying to reassure him. "Better yet," she added after a minute, "Save it for the Quidditch game. The first game is only what, two weeks away now?"

He nodded, giving her a small smile. Without warning, he reached up and brushed his fingers against her cheek, pushing a wayward lock of red hair back into place. His hand must have stayed there just a moment too long; when her face began to blush, he pulled back and started off towards the Quidditch field. "Got to go, going to be late for practice." He looked back at her now from a safe distance. "See you at dinner?"

Lily nodded back at him and waved. Underneath her robes, her heart was still pounding hard against her chest. Severus Snape crossed the hall, sneering at her disapprovingly the whole time. She found herself glaring back at him, hoping that he'd end up with a bad case of cold sores.

* * *

Quidditch practice was not going as Sirius had planned. He was missing a Chaser and his Seeker. Well, it's not exactly your fault, he told himself, who knew that so many girls shared lip-gloss with each other? He saw James down on the field below, mounting his broom and taking off towards him with a burst of speed.

"Where is everyone?" James asked, straightening his glasses as he pulled up along side of Sirius.

"Infirmary." He replied, giving a small helpless shrug. "Don't know if there is much point to it today..."

"Might as well keep the team out here though." James gave Sirius a sly grin. "They can't catch cold sores when they're on broomsticks."

After an hour and a half of flying around, the remnants of the Gryffindor team headed to the locker room. Sirius set down his beater's club and started to take off his padding. His other beater was on his way to the infirmary, having broken out into a rash just before the end of practice. James was sitting on the bench next to Sirius, polishing his broomstick and plucking off a few wayward ends of it.

"Full moon tomorrow night," he said to James, giving him a knowing look.

James nodded, setting his broomstick aside. He looked around and then whispered to Sirius, "I've been thinking about that. Lily expects Remus to be gone, for obvious reasons, but what about the rest of us? Its not like she won't notice if we're all gone. But if one of us stayed behind..."

"He could keep her occupied, while the others were off 'marauding'." Sirius' eyes twinkled at James. "Do you have Prefect watch this weekend?"

James shook his head. "No, but I looked ahead and I do for the next two full moons. If you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate it if you opted to stay behind this time."

Sirius grabbed a towel and headed toward the showers. Over his shoulder he said, "A night alone with Lily? Oh alright, twist my arm then."

When they arrived at dinner, they found Lily sitting with Peter. She had a slight furrow to her eyebrows, and appeared to be worried about something. James sat next to her, and Sirius sat next to Peter opposite them.

"Remus isn't feeling well, he went to see Madam Pomfrey." Lily said, answering the question before it could be asked.

Surrounded by the rest of their housemates, there wasn't much they could say on the subject. After a few minutes of awkward silence though, James raised his hand to his mouth as if to cover a cough. Very quietly, he spoke to Lily. "There's nothing to worry about. He's very well protected."

Lily fidgeted in her seat and then whispered back. "I know, but I just can't help but worry. I feel just awful that he has to go through this alone every month."

Sirius must have heard what she said, because he shot James a warning glance. Lily was just too smart and too sympathetic to Remus' plight. A voice in the back of James' mind told him that if they weren't careful, Lily would soon be suggesting that they all become Animagi to help Remus out. James nudged Sirius with his foot under the table. Better sooner than later, he thought, and waited to see how their plan would unfold.

Sirius was watching Lily eat. Her hair kept falling in front of her face and she was getting quite annoyed with it. Dainty, he thought, she's very dainty. She looked up at him and smiled. "So what's going on tonight, Lil?" he asked, hoping it sounded casual.

Lily gave him the eye. "Didn't you hear? I'm meeting Severus up at the Astronomy Tower at midnight. I plan on having my way with him." Peter giggled. "He'll put up a fight of course, but that's half of the fun. I figure a few well-timed Restraining Charms should do the trick."

Sirius pushed his plate away. "Thanks a lot, I'll be lucky if I ever want to eat again." He pointed a finger at her. "You're a sick puppy, you know that? I can't think of a more disturbing mental image."

"How about Snape having it off with your Mum?" James offered.

Sirius swore and threw a crumpled napkin at James' head. Lily continued laughing. "Really though, what are you doing tonight?"

Lily shrugged. "Nothing I guess... same sort of things we do every night, study a bit, play a few games, plot the overthrow of a world government. Why?"

"Thought we could go up to the library and start work on that essay of McGonagall's. Should be pretty quiet up there tonight, start of the weekend and whatnot." Take the bait, he thought willing her to believe what he said.

"Sure, why not?" She turned and looked at James. "You going to come too?"

"Nah, don't think so." James looked very casual. He was having a much easier time lying to Lily than Sirius was. "I'll just lounge about the Common Room with Peter all night."

Lily looked back and forth between the two of them. Peter's eyes followed hers, trying to discern any suspicion she might be harboring. Finally she nodded, adding that she wanted to head to the library anyway to check on the history of some Cleansing Charms she was working on.

Sirius smiled at James. James smiled at Peter. Peter just smiled. The game was on.

* * *

Lily was leaning forward, her right hand propping her head and her left hand twisting a lock of hair into a curl as she read. Sirius sat across the table from her, his feet up on the table and his chair tilted precariously back, looking as if it would tip over at any minute. Their table was set in front of a large window in the library, looking out onto the school grounds and the Forbidden Forest. They'd been there for nearly three hours now, studying in relative silence. Another hour and the library would close for the night. Sirius glanced out the window, hoping that James and Peter were out of the castle and on their way to the Shrieking Shack even now.

Lily yawned and gave a small stretch. She laid her hands out in front of her and set her chin down on her book, looking at him. "I think I've had enough of this for the night, want to head back to the Common Room and see what Peter and James are up to?"

A glimmer of panic made Sirius' heart miss a beat. He closed the book in his lap and said, "Not really, but I could use a walk. Want to head outside and take a stroll by the lake before we have to go in for the night?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. "Might as well, not going to have too many more nice days like this, are we?"

They packed away their books and made to leave the library. Two fifth year girls from Hufflepuff entered just as they reached the exit. Both of them looked at Sirius and started giggling. He flashed a flirtatious smile at them and waved. Lily had kept walking, and was now waiting outside of the library for him. He ran a hand through his wavy hair, tousling it back into place. She was looking deep into his eyes, with a small crooked smile on her face. It made him a bit self-conscious; he shoved his hands into the pockets of his robes and muttered "Something wrong?"

"Just enjoying the spectacle of you and your fan club," she replied, eyes glinting. Sirius made a noise in mock protest, while Lily just laughed and looped her arms through his, walking down the hall. "You know... I always thought that you had blue eyes... but really, they're a very pale gray. Almost like a polished steel."

Sirius felt himself flush. He didn't say anything. There was something about the way Lily had been looking at him that made him feel as if he'd just walked in to a crowded room completely naked. When she was laughing, her eyes crinkled in a way that made you want to laugh with her, but when she was like this, in a quiet contented mood, she was something else entirely. She was so beautiful that it almost hurt to look at her. Other thoughts occurred to Sirius as they exited the castle; things like, the more he got to know about her, the more he really liked her and that despite spending so much time with her, that she wasn't turning out to be a bore like so many other witches her age were. Lily was no shrinking flower; she was very different from other girls. Whereas other girls would pick and barely eat their food when there were boys around, Lily ate with gusto. She didn't care if her hair was perfect when they saw her (Sirius, in fact, thought that it looked best at the end of the day, when the wind was done blowing it about, giving Lily an unearthly, airy look.) or if she had her make up on. Aside from her light pink lip-gloss, Sirius wasn't even sure if she did wear make up. Even when she was upset at him, Sirius found himself irresistibly drawn to her side. He found himself wanting to make her happy, and being happy whenever he knew that she was.

What is going on in my head, he asked himself. Take my shirt off, put me on a balcony and I could be the male lead in one of those smutty Sickle Press novels that middle age spinster witches buy, he thought. Well, the shirtless and balcony might not be too bad, his mind continued rolling into a more seedy corner of his imagination, especially if Lily was there...

She stopped in back of a bench that over looked the lake. He sat down on the bench, but Lily didn't join him. Instead, she said "Sirius Black! You're ears are bright pink. What on earth are you thinking about?"

He looked over his shoulder; her emerald eyes were sparkling at him, ready for a bit of banter. Without thinking, he answering honestly. "You," he said, the word barely a whisper. Two small rose-colored circles appeared on her cheeks. This was obviously not the answer she'd been expecting. She blinked a few times in rapid succession. "Come sit down with me Lily." She looked ready to bolt. She was looking into his eyes again, which were pleading with her not to run away. Cautiously, she sat down next to him, crossing her legs at the knees and putting her hands protectively on top of them.

"You know, I don't think I've seen the Giant Squid yet this year." She was fumbling for conversation, and avoiding his eyes now.

"Sod the Giant Squid!" Sirius said. He took her hand into his and held it against his knee. She wouldn't look at him, but she didn't pull away. The profile of her face gave away nothing of what she was thinking. With his wrist against hers, he could faintly feel her pulse; it was racing almost as fast as his. He couldn't take his eyes off of her though. After a few minutes, she starts to physically shake. Then a small sob shook her whole body. Finally, she pulled her hand away from his and covered her face. She was crying.

He tried to put an arm around her, unsure of what had gone wrong, but she stopped him. "Don't," she stammered, "Just don't."

"Don't what?" he whispered, not understanding.

"Don't make me look like a fool." Pain flowed out of her eyes, and when he didn't have a response ready, she sobbed again and stormed back to the castle. Sirius pulled his hand down over his face trying to wash away some of his confusion over what had just happened. He sat alone for a few minutes, and then walked slowly back to the castle.

He passed by James' private room on his way up to the sixth years' tower. Tacked to the door was a small piece of parchment that read 'Need someone to talk to - I'm in my room. - L'. He stared at it for a long time. Finally with a determined look on his face, he tore the note off the door and marched back down toward Lily's room.

The hallways of Gryffindor Tower were quiet; most people were still down in the Common Room. He stood outside her door for a moment before he knocked. Soft steps approached the door, and then she opened it. Her eyes were red with tears and her nose had gone all blotchy. She gave him a surprised look and made to shut the door. His hand shot out just in time to stop it. With his other hand, he reached out and lifted her chin up. He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers; it wasn't a kiss, it was too brief and too gentle for that. He took a step back, his eyes looking at her in a sad way.

"Of the two of us," he said tossing her crumpled note to James to her, "You're not the one that looks like the fool." Without another word, he walked away, and Lily closed her door again.

* * *

James Potter was having a very odd day. He'd been up most of the night running amok with Remus and Peter, and was very tired for Quidditch practice the next morning. When he showed up fifteen minutes late, Sirius had actually yelled at him. Later, during a defense practice for the beaters, he'd sworn that Sirius had actually let a Bludger hit him in the stomach. The blow had sent James whirling, and he took a time out down on the ground. Whatever was making Sirius hot under the collar though, he seemed to have worked it out before the end of practice. He was his usual quirky self when they got back to the locker rooms.

"Any problems with Lily last night?" James had asked.

Sirius gave him a blank look. "Not at all," he said. "I don't think we have to worry about her suspecting a thing."

They left the locker room and headed up to the castle. When Sirius turned up a set of stairs toward the Tower, James asked if he was coming to lunch. Sirius shook his head and mumbled something about needing to do some reading for Transfiguration. James went on alone to the Great Hall.

Lily sat sullenly at the far end of the hall. She was sitting alone. Peter must still be sleeping off last night, James thought. Peter was always more tired than the rest of them after their outings; James attributed it to the fact that as a rat, Peter had to work harder to keep up with the rest of them. Many times, Wormtail would cling to the back of either James or Sirius while they ran. James sat down next to Lily and poured himself a glass of milk.

"Knut for your thoughts," he offered when after a minute she hadn't said so much as hello.

"How was practice?" Lily asked, ignoring his offer.

"Fine." He said simply. "How did studying go last night?"

James could have sworn that he saw her blush before she turned back and started to push her food around her plate. She shrugged, as if that was an answer and then asked him if he thought Remus would be back in classes by Monday.

"Maybe, maybe not." Even once Remus had returned to a proper human form, it sometimes took an extra day for him to sleep off the exertion that his transformation entailed.

Lily's head bobbed up and down; James couldn't tell if she was listening to a word that he was saying. Finally, she said, "Where were you last night? I couldn't find you when I got back to the tower."

Thinking quickly, James replied, "Peter and I went down to see Hagrid." The Hogwarts' Gamekeeper was a giant of a man, the size of his body matched only by the size of his heart. "He fed us some of his homemade fudge and we had to sit there until it had settled enough to walk home."

Lily gave a small snicker. "Did you know that when we arrived off the boats during first year, that he carried me into the Great Hall on his shoulders? I was very short then," James raised an eyebrow, as if to say, 'And you're not short now?' but Lily ignored him. "And I didn't want to miss anything, I kept whining about not being able to see. Then these two huge hands picked me up and I could see everything. It was great."

"I've never seen you down to visit him," James said.

"Well, I don't go. I've never been the social type." She pushed her hair back behind her ears and whispered under her breath, "It was a lot simpler that way too, I think."

James put a hand gently on her shoulder. "Are you sure that everything is okay?" he asked quietly.

"Fine" she replied, stretching the word out. "Just brilliant. Where are Peter and Sirius anyway?"

"Pettigrew's still sleeping, lazy git that he is," He threw Lily a sideways smirk, and was pleased to see that she returned it. "Sirius went back up to the Tower after practice, said he had some reading to do."

"Hmm," she said thoughtfully. "A nap sounds delightful." She stood up, getting ready to leave. "Catch you up at dinner then, James?"

"Sure see you then." Maybe the full moon effects normal people too, he mused.

At dinner, he noticed that while Sirius and Lily were talking, they weren't talking to each other. He was trying to think of ways to find out what was going on when Justice Munroe plopped down next to Lily, looking quite frazzled. "Your fifth year Prefect, Annalise, is up in the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey is holding all the students with cold sores hostage until she gets this epidemic under control." Justice threw her hands in the air. "Its not like it's the Black Death, its just bloody cold sores. Anyway, can you fill in for her tonight, take her rounds?" Lily nodded and excused herself from the table. She and Justice left the Great Hall talking rapidly.

"Well," said Peter, "That will keep Lily occupied all night. Going to sneak out with us then Sirius?"

Sirius looked as if he really wanted to go, but he instead he said, "No, better stay behind in case she comes looking for any of us. If you don't mind though James, I'd like to get out of here Sunday night."

"Not a problem at all. The other Gryffindor Prefect will probably have cold sores by then anyway." James grinned.

Sirius Black spent an entire Saturday night sitting in the farthest corner of the Common Room alone. He was trying to read, but it wasn't going so well. He kept running the evening before over in his mind. Somewhere in the back of his head he knew that he was waiting for her to come back to the tower. Eventually, he was the last one in the Common Room, everyone else having gone off to bed. Most of the lights had been turned off already, and the shadowy corner obscured him when she came in. Before she noticed him, Sirius shut his eyes, feigning sleep.

He could hear her moving closer. Then her footfalls stopped just short of the chair he was lounging in. He kept his breathing as even as possible. He could smell her hair, so near she was. It was like fresh-picked lavender. He heard her moving away from him, and his heart started to ache again. He should have said something, should have tried to talk to her about yesterday. He cursed himself for being a stubborn fool. Then he felt the gentle weight of a blanket being laid over him, and felt her hand brush his knee as she pulled the blanket up to his chin.

She paused for a second, her face just inches from his. He heard a rustling in her robes, and then heard her whisper the words 'Nox Totalus'. From behind his eyelids, he saw the Common Room go completely black. Her fingers were in his hair now, sending goose bumps down the back of his neck. She leaned in towards him, and kissed him softly on his lips. She pulled back, watching him. He could feel her eyes burning into his skin. Let her think I'm still sleeping, he prayed, I can't look at her right now.

She leaned in again, kissing him slightly harder this time, and against his will, his lips responded to hers. She pulled back, jumping away. She stood there for a minute, studying his supposedly inert form, and then he heard her turn to leave. "Dream well, Sirius," she whispered as she left the Common Room.

And of course, he did.