Arrival Unexpected

There were five days left until Gryffindor's first Quidditch game of the season, and there were three days left until Lily Evans' seventeenth birthday. Both events, and the preparations they entailed, were keeping the quartet on their toes during the first days of October. It was a Monday afternoon, and Sirius was planning on sneaking into Hogsmeade with Remus to do some shopping for Lily. James would be keeping Lily's nose firmly in a book at the library while Peter snuck into the Kitchen to make arrangements for a cake with the school House Elves. The boys exchanged triumphant looks when they met back up at dinner that evening: everything was going according to plan.

There was another project that the boys had been working on for a few weeks, but it wasn't making much progress. Lily had almost caught them that last Sunday night when Sirius and Peter had been sneaking off to Remus while she was on rounds with James (he'd been right about the other Gryffindor Prefect, who disappeared during breakfast that morning, running to the Infirmary). Sirius and Peter were sneaking out of the castle, under James' invisibility cloak, when Peter had gotten the hiccups. They echoed up and down the silent halls, and the noise caught Lily's attention. She bolted out from around the corner, peering across the hall. Sirius had slapped his hand over Peter's mouth, trying to stifle the sound. With each escaped hiccup, she moved closer to the invisible, fearful boys, using the reverberating sound as a kind of reverse sonar. She was standing not four feet from them when James arrived on the scene, making enough noise for Sirius and Peter to depart post haste.

It had been too close for comfort. They decided that they needed some kind of spell to warn them when Lily, or any authority figure was too close, so they could duck out of the way. They'd been debating how to go about it for weeks, when Remus finally hit upon a solid idea.

"You know how my Mum has that clock that tells her where anyone in the family is? We need something like that, but small and portable." He had said.

"If we listed everyone in the school though, that would be too big, even if it was just on a piece of parchment." Peter pointed out. "And if it only listed Lily, or all the prefects and teachers, that wouldn't cover all the options for getting caught, would it?"

"What we need," said James scratching his head as he thought out loud, "is something more localized. Something to tell us who's in the same area of the school that we're in at the time. Something..."

"... Like a map!" Finished Sirius thoroughly impressed with the idea. "That way it could be kept on a small piece of parchment, and would still alert us to anyone that could cause us trouble."

"I dunno..." said Remus, "I once heard Dumbledore say that he didn't even know all the rooms in this school. How are we going to map it?"

"Details," said Sirius, waving a hand dismissively at him. "I think that if we can put some of the essence of the school into the paper, it would map itself."

"After that," added James, who was equally enthused by this idea, "its just a matter of teaching the map to 'see' people."

"What if someone else should get a hold of it? We should make it so only we know how to use it." It would be a lot of work, Remus knew, but then most things worth doing were.

"We'll just add a few of our own brand of Encryption Charms," said Sirius, with a mischievous grin. "Put a bit of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs into it."

Their course decided, the research began. Again, they found themselves having to try and keep Lily occupied while some of them worked on this. They distracted her in pairs, two of them working in the library or when they could bring books back to the Tower, in James' room; the other two went about life as normal, studying, playing games and chatting it up with Lily each night. So far, she hadn't suspected a thing.

Lily hadn't said a word to Sirius about the kiss she stole from him that Saturday night; in fact, when he'd tried to get a moment alone with her to speak about it, she'd pretended that she didn't know what he was talking about, and quickly changed the subject. Since then she'd made sure that, despite Sirius' best efforts, he didn't have so much as a minute alone with her. She was just as friendly with him as she was with the other three. As far as Sirius could tell, she hadn't talked to anyone else about it either. He was sure that if Remus had been told, he would have said something. If she had talked to James about it, Sirius felt that he would have seen it in his friend's eyes. It irked Sirius to no end that everything with the five of them seemed to be blissfully normal.

Sod normal, he told himself. He was rather irritable over the whole thing, never having to wait so long for a girl to fall under his spell before. When the tension got to be too much, he turned his frustrations into new methods for torturing Severus Snape.

The Prefect of Slytherin House was not having a good time of it lately. His feet would jumble under him unexpectedly, making him fall flat on his great hooked nose. Twice in as many days, Snape found that his books started to sing loudly whenever he opened them. Once, when Sirius was feeling particularly nasty, he'd sent Snape a fake Howler, which exploded into high-pitched screams asking if he still wet the bed and if he was still sleeping with his ickle teddy-goblin when the Slytherin had opened it at breakfast.

None of these distractions however, stopped Sirius from thinking about Lily for too long. He considered the situation carefully, and then just a day after he and Remus had snuck into Hogsmeade, Sirius made his way back into the wizarding town, intent on doing some shopping of his own.

* * *

When James was done with classes that afternoon, he went looking for Lily. He found her sitting on a bench that overlooked the lake, wearing a look so serious on her face that even Peeves the Poltergeist would have thought twice about disturbing her. He sat down next to her. "You been out here long?" he asked.

She shook her head. "The castle felt so stuffy today. I needed some fresh air. Fancy a bit of a walk?"

They chatted about classes and upcoming tests for a bit. She was smiling, but James noticed that her shoulders were still as tense as they had been when he'd found her on the bench. "So," he said determined to get it out of her this time. "Are you going to tell me what's been bothering you lately?"

"You can tell?" she asked, looking a bit defeated.

"It's all in your posture," he explained. "But I don't know if anyone else can see it." He tapped his left temple meaningfully. "Years of Quidditch practice: you learn to look at how an opponent is holding themselves to know where they're going to fly to next." She gave a small smile. "You know Lily, if you don't want me to, I won't tell the others. You can trust me." He gave her a small but wicked grin. "Prefect's privilege."

"I do trust you James," she said softly, looking down at the ground.

"What about the others? Do you trust them enough to talk about this? If not me, at least talk to someone." He was starting to think that maybe he didn't want to know what was bothering her.

"Oh, I could tell Remus anything I think. Peter... well... he's Peter... not much for heartfelt talks and meaningful discussions, is he?" she scuffed her shoes against the ground.

"What about Sirius? Do you think you could trust him?" Their conversation was starting to take an interesting turn. They'd stopped walking now, and stood halfway between the Quidditch Field and Hagrid's hut.

She scoffed. "Yeah, about as far as I could throw him." Lily flexed her muscles and laughed. She looked up at James, saying, "It's the kind of problem that a woman doesn't want to talk to a guy about, and that a guy never wants to hear about anyway... Know what I mean?"

"Oh!" exclaimed James, blushing ever so slightly. "Maybe you should uhm... talk to Madam Pomfrey..." If James had been a mouse under Lily's foot, his voice couldn't have squeaked more. "Or uhm... write a letter to your Mum?"

Lily stifled a smirk and nodded. Better that he think she was having a feminine hygiene problem, than know that she was waging a battle against her own hormonal impulses. In the back of her mind, she imagined his reaction if she spoke the truth: Really James, I'm up late at night imagining what Sirius would look like wearing nothing but his beater's club and an appropriately placed Bludger. Makes it awful hard for a girl to study. No, she thought wickedly, sometimes a lack of truth that isn't a lie is better than the whole truth.

They started up their walk once more. James was looking up at the clouds when he noticed a great black owl flying out of the Owlery. He pointed at it and asked, "Isn't that Circe?"

Lily looked up and nodded. "Yeah, I think it is. Where is she going?" Two sets of eyes following the flying loops that the bird made, until it landed just out of the reach of the Whomping Willow. James' heart skipped a beat, as his mind put the pieces together, understanding what was about to happen.

"Will you look at that!" exclaimed Lily, heading towards her owl and the animal that had just appeared seemingly out of thin air between the trees. If he had had a choice, James would have run in any direction but the one that Lily was scurrying off in. As it was, he had to do his best to diffuse the situation. Circe had taken off before they reached her, clutching something tightly in her talons. Lily called after her, but the bird either ignored her, or didn't hear her.

The great black dog, however, did.

It sat on the ground as if frozen there, tail between its legs. Lily kneeled down on the ground a few feet from it, calling it over to her. James stood behind her, smirking at the dog. Well, he thought, you've gotten yourself into this mess; let's see how you play it off Padfoot.

The dog crept slowly towards her; she held out a hand to him, to let him sniff her so he wouldn't be afraid. Padfoot's eyes looked up at James, almost pleadingly, but finally, sensing that James wasn't about to help him, he gave her outstretched hand a sniff. That was all the encouragement that Lily needed, and she wrapped her hands around the dog, scratching his neck and back affectionately. "He's just beautiful! Have you ever seen a coat like this on a dog? He positively shines." She breathed.

"I'd be careful, he probably has fleas." James said, standing above Lily and Padfoot, trying to keep a straight face.

"Hmm" she said thoughtfully. "He doesn't have a collar; do you think he's a stray?"

"Most definitely," said James. "Probably a mutt too; I'd bet his mother never even knew who his father was." The dog started barking at him at that, letting loose a few meaningful growls as well.

Lily looked between the two. "Don't tell me that you speak to dogs now too, James." She said it playfully, but her gaze on him was intense.

Think before you speak, he told himself. "Well, its not to hard too understand the lesser animals," he replied. Padfoot's back leg was twitching animatedly as Lily scratched his ears. "Take this fellow for instance." Padfoot lay down on the ground, and Lily was rubbing his belly in long slow strokes. "It's obvious that he's desperate for attention, so he snuck onto the school grounds and sought out the prettiest girl he could find. And Viola, a few cowering glances with those great puppy-dog eyes and he has you at his mercy." James grinned. "I wouldn't be surprised if he let you do that all day." The dog glared at James. "Come on, Lily. Let's head back. I told Sirius that I'd wake him up in time for dinner tonight."

Lily gave the dog one last affectionate pat on the head and started back towards the castle with James. James saw the dog go racing off towards the Quidditch lockers at breakneck speed and chuckled to himself.

Somehow, Sirius did manage to make it back into the dormitory before they did-- and when they knocked on his door, he even managed a convincing yawn. Lily was heading back to her room; she was going to take her book bag to dinner so she could head straight to the library from there. Once she was out of sight, James put a finger under Sirius' chin and scratched him with mock affection. "You were such a good ickle doggie. Yes you were," he cooed at the disgruntled looking lad.

Sirius slapped James' hand away, blushing furiously. "Do you have any idea how demeaning that was? I feel positively violated!"

James threw him a wicked grin. "Yep. You looked like you were really suffering from those vicious belly rubs. Especially when your tongue started to hang out of your mouth and your eyes rolled back in your head." James clucked at Sirius, "I bet you hope that you never have to endure such indignity again, right?"

Sirius slapped James' shoulder, gave him a wide grin and said "Actually... I wouldn't mind getting a collar, some dog tags and directions to a park filled with nubile young women for Christmas this year."

* * *

Of the four of them, Peter was having the hardest time not saying anything to Lily about her birthday. They'd taken careful precautions to ensure she didn't know that they knew it was her birthday. She hadn't told any of them that it was coming up. Remus remembered it because Lily's owl, Circe had delivered a large cake to her last year, which she had shared with him. This year, there would be no packages by owl post though. Sirius and James had spent the better part of Tuesday night up in the Owlery convincing Circe not to bring anything to Lily the next day, because it would be more fun if she waited until they sent for her.

When nothing arrived at breakfast, Lily had looked unperturbed. By lunchtime, she looked slightly sad. At dinner, after the owls had made their drops to the students, James had heard her mumble 'Not even a bloody card' before she excused herself from the table. Tears were welling up in her eyes. The boys waited a minute and then followed her back up to Gryffindor Tower, hiding carefully out of sight.

From around the corner, they watched as she struggled with the lock on the door to her room, a small stream of curses escaping her lips. James had put the locking charm on it himself; it wouldn't open until the pass code was given. When she kicked the door, they all broke into fits of laughter. Lily shot around the corner, glaring at them accusingly.

Remus smiled at her, pulling her back towards her door. "Take your wand out, touch it to the door and tell the truth." He said, still laughing.

"What truth?" she asked.

"Tell the door what day it is!" Peter said, grinning widely.

Lily's top lip twitched. She realized now that she'd been had. She sighed and pulled out her wand. "It's Wednesday, the sixth of October and I want in my bloody room!" she said stubbornly.

More laughter from the four boys, Sirius told her to try again.

"Its my birthday, open up," she mumbled, a touch of defeat in her voice. The door swung open, Lily walked in and let out a gasp. Balloons covered the entire ceiling flashing different colors as they bobbed up and down, streamers were draped across the walls spelling out the words 'Happy Birthday' like a neon sign, and sitting on her bed was Circe, a pile of presents next to her. The boys followed her in.

"Happy Birthday Lily!" Peter shouted, relieved to finally be able to say it. "There's a cake too, on your desk!"

Lily buried her head in Remus' chest. "You didn't have to do this," she told them.

"Oh please," said James, an air of mischief about him. "We didn't do this for you; we just needed an excuse for a party."

"And a chance," Sirius added, "to search your room for that bikini that Circe keeps talking about." Circe started hooting, and they all laughed.

It was well after midnight when the boys finally bid her goodnight. She'd given each of them an exuberant hug and a kiss goodnight on the cheek as they'd left. Lily chuckled to herself, remembering how Peter had snuck back in behind Sirius trying to get an extra kiss. Lily was attempting to pick her room up the old fashioned way, but it was slow going. Finally, she pulled out her wand and said "Pugare!" A stream of white sparkles floated out of the end of her wand. As they spread out into her room, they gathered up all the bits of torn wrapping paper and all the dirty dishes, putting all her chairs and pillows back into their proper places before they faded into the night.

There was a tapping at Lily's window. Circe was perched outside, and there was a small package attached to her leg. Lily opened the window and Circe fluttered over to her bed, sticking her leg out so that Lily could unburden her. "What is this?" Lily asked. In reply, the owl hooted softly and then after giving her an affectionate nip on the arm, flew back out the window.

The package was wrapped in simple brown paper; there was no address, return or otherwise on it. She unwrapped it, and in the box was a small vial of coarse dark gray powder and a note. Setting the note aside unread, she uncorked the vial and gave it a sniff. It smelled of burnt ash, but nothing sparked her memory. She picked up the note and unfolded it; in a deep red ink were words written in a very familiar script:

Sirius Black, she said to herself, you certainly have an odd way of giving a girl an ultimatum. She picked up the vial again, looking at it more closely than before. Floo Powder, she thought, recognizing it finally. He's probably sitting down in the Common Room now. Each of the Prefect's rooms had their own fireplace, but the actual dormitories were heated by a ventilation system from the main fireplace in the Common Room of each house. Lily thought over her options carefully. She had decided the day after she had kissed him that she didn't want to date him (if in fact, that was what he even wanted from her). He was very handsome, with his wavy black-brown hair and his pale eyes, but he was also impulsive, loud and when he wanted to be, very cruel. The times in the previous five years that he had made her cry were uncountable. The simple fact that he knew how to hurt her eliminated him in Lily's mind from ever being anything but a friend.

She did really appreciate his friendship though, and that was what was so hard about all of this. She mulled going down to the Common Room to speak with him. Better to bring him up here, she thought, he's probably expecting that anyway. No need to have it out with him in the Common Room, where anyone could walk in at anytime. She went over to her desk and pulled the chair over in front of her fireplace. Lily uncorked the bottle again and said "Sirius Black" as she tossed its contents into the fireplace. The fire turned a dark green, his features slowly emerging from the flames. There was a soft smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes. Unbidden, her heart floated higher in her chest like a Fizzing Whizbee as he stepped out of the flames and into her room. The pale gray pools that were his eyes looked down at her, leaning in slowly to give her a kiss. She threw a panicked hand into the air, accidentally bopping him on the nose with the motion. "Sorry," she mumbled, as he rubbed the bruise appendage. "Look, I just brought you here to talk; take a seat." She pointed to the chair.

The dopish grin fell from his face, but he took the offered chair and sat down. He looked very... scared; he was staring straight at the floor now, a slight blush colored his cheeks and he seemed determined not to look at her. This is going to be harder than I thought, Lily realized. She took a deep breath and began to speak. "I know that this is my fault. I don't know what came over me. I had no right to kiss you that night, and I'm sorry. I never meant to give you the wrong idea."

"No," he said softly. "There is no fault, there is no blame. Don't make it sound as if this," he gestured between the two of them, looking at her in the face finally "is a mistake. I wanted to be kissed, Lily. I want to be kissed again too. I... I can't think of anything else I want more in the world right now." He stood up and took a step towards her. She took a step back.

"Sirius," her heart was racing as she looked into his pleading eyes. She moved backwards again, trying to put as much distance as she could between his lips and her own rampaging hormones. "It would never work, you and I, we're much too different." A voice asked her if she was saying that for his benefit or her own.

"Opposites attract," he said moving closer to her.

She had backed herself into the wall.

"I... I only date nice boys," she stammered.

"I'm a very nice boy," he replied. His hand was caressing her cheek now.

Breathe, she told herself.

"No, you're not - you're -"

She never finished the sentence.

His lips fell on hers and it was all but over. Gentle kisses silenced all her well-planned arguments and her best intentions. Her hands were pressed against his chest, trying for a brief moment to push him away. As she succumbed to his kisses, her hands tightened into fists. All of a sudden, she was pulling him towards her by his robes- with a fiery passion that had transfigured her to her core. If this surprised him, he didn't show it. With one arm, he picked her up and set her on the edge of the windowsill. They were nearly eye level now.

He broke off for a moment just to look at her, his eyes shining with joy and hunger. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her again, slowly and gently. She raked her teeth across his lower lip, releasing a guttural almost animalistic growl from the back of his throat. She was wrapping her legs around his waist, pulling him hard towards her once more. Lily's lips strayed from his, exploring his jaw, his neck craving to devour skin, his scent. She inhaled deeply, taking in the light smell of cinnamon and sandalwood that was uniquely his. She kissed him once more on his jaw line, moving her lips onward to his earlobe, and locking them around it, switching deftly between gentle nibbling and harsh almost angry bites.

The noise in Sirius' throat turned deep. He took another step back, looking at her as if he couldn't believe it was happening. "Lily," he murmured into her ear. "My Lily..."

Her small hand wriggled through a gap in the buttons in his robe. Her fingers slid around to the back of his neck, forcing his mouth back down to hers. She dragged her fingernails sharply down his back and when he gasped in shock, he felt her lips break into a small smirk beneath his.

His own hands began to explore her pale skin, surprised once more when his probing fingers met not resistance, but encouragement. Things were starting to spiral beyond his control, and when her hand started to creep down into his trousers, he stepped back.

"I... I have to go," he said it like an apology.

"Will you come back?" she asked, there was just a touch of fear on her face.

"Of course," he said, giving her a winning smile. "We have to finish that talk we were having about how much you don't want to kiss me."

* * *

Lily was the last to arrive at breakfast the next morning. Her face was bright and perky as she took a seat between Peter and Remus. Sirius cocked an eyebrow at her, but all she said to him was "Pass the pumpkin juice, will you Sirius?"

Pass the pumpkin juice indeed, Sirius thought. Well, if she wants to play it cool, I can do that. "Sleep well last night?" he inquired cheerfully.

"Yep, went straight to bed after I -" she was giving him a funny look, turning her head to the side till it was parallel with her shoulders. "What the bloody hell is that on your neck?"

The other three boys were looking at him now as his hand rose defensively to the collar of his robes, but it was too late. "He's got a love bite, he has!" Peter said just a bit too loudly.

"Oy," said Remus. "A large one at that too... looks a bit like the profile of the Minister of Magic." Sirius blushed to the roots of his hair. They were all speculating on the girl in question, and he was surprised when Lily threw out several suggestions as to who the culprit might be. What is she on about, he wondered.

He was starting to think that they'd never let up about it when the owl post arrived. A large brown barn owl dropped a newspaper towards them that James caught deftly without ever looking up. James unfolded it and began reading.

"Hey, two of those sleeping kids woke up," he announced.

"Yeah," said Sirius, who was as usual reading the paper over James' shoulder. "But one died the night before."

"So what was it that finally woke them up?" asked Remus.

"Apparently they don't know," James said, still scanning the article. "They just woke up, several hours after the other one died. All three children were from the same family." He set the paper down. There was a sad, faraway look on his face.

"Why kill one but not the others?" This was from Lily, who looked as if she was trying to solve a particularly hard Arithmancy problem.

Remus shrugged, "Who knows the inner workings of the mind of a Dark Wizard?"

The first bell chimed just then, calling them to class. Lily was struggling with her book bag. "Here," offered Sirius as the others rose to leave. "I'll carry that for you."

She heaved it up and over her shoulder, "No need, got it now. Thanks though." They exited the hall, the others some distance ahead of them. Sirius grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. She turned and looked at him.

"There something going on here that I don't know about?" he whispered to her. "I mean other than the fact that you seem to think it was another girl that gave me this blasted love bite."

She smirked at him, "Well, its not like I want them to know that it was me... why didn't you use a healing charm on it this morning? I had to use three with all the havoc you caused last night."

He gave her a sly grin. "I didn't even know it was there till you pointed it out." He moved towards her, intending to give her a kiss.

She took off down the hall, calling at him behind her, "Come on, we're going to be late."

The whole day went like that: Sirius attempting to publicly display his affection for Lily, and Lily somehow managing to escape his clutches. By the time he hit the Quidditch field for practice, Sirius was very distracted. His whole game was off, and from the way that James was looking at him Sirius wasn't the only one that had noticed.

"You do realize that we have a match tomorrow? Against Slytherin?" James said pointedly.

"Yeah, I think I heard something about that." Sirius gave James a slight eye roll. "Don't worry about it, I'm just a bit distracted today."

Everyone was always tense before a match against Slytherin; the ancient school rivalry tended to bring out strong emotions. Both sides had been sporting their house colors all week. There had also been more open hostility in the halls of Hogwarts, and not a few points were lost in the shuffle.

Sirius pulled his shirt off, grabbing a towel to head to the showers. James stepped in front of him. "Whatever you say, mate." James poked a finger into the deep purple love bite on Sirius' neck. "Just remember to keep your focus on the game tomorrow and not on... other things."

"Aren't you going to ask me about it?"

Sirius and James had always shared their trysts before, and while he didn't want to answer any questions, it just felt wrong not to say something to James.

"Nope." James was pulling off his own shirt now, tossing it into the locker.

"Why?" asked Sirius, looking slightly surprised.

James passed by Sirius, heading into the showers. He didn't even turn around when he replied, "Because I'm happier not knowing."

* * *

Lily had insisted that Sirius wait in her room while she made her rounds with James that night, saying that it was easier for him to sneak in early right under everyone's noses than to duck in late, when it would look suspicious. He'd agreed, but didn't let her leave until she gave him a kiss.

He looked about the room. In many ways, it was similar to his shared room up in the turrets. The ancient wooden floor creaked in all the right places, and the dark gray stones that made up the walls looked familiar as well. Mostly though, the room was uniquely Lily. There was a Muggle (nonmoving) lithograph on the wall behind her four-poster bed that had several dozen strangely dressed people standing behind a large drum that read 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'. In the foreground, spelled out in flowers were the words 'The Beatles'. Sirius stared at it for a long time. I hope she didn't pay too much for this, he thought as he studied at all the costumed Muggles, they spelled the word 'beetles' wrong.

A half-hour went by, then another. He sat in front of the fire, replaying the evening before in his mind. When he got sick of sitting, he walked over to her mirror and fussed with his hair a bit. The mirror appeared to be rather scandalized by his presence there, asking if he realized that this was a girl's room. He ignored it.

Her trunk was propped open at the end of her bed. He'd already glanced into it several times while he was waiting. He went over to it again; its contents were divided neatly in half - wizard robes on one side and Muggle clothing on the other. The temptation to delve inside was overbearing. His desire to touch anything that was hers weighed against the knowledge that she could very well be back at any second. A mischievous smile flicked across his face as he made up his mind; he pulled his wand out of his pocket, pointed it squarely at the trunk and said "Accio bikini!"

The clothes in the trunk shuffled themselves about a bit, but after a moment two small garments flew out and into his hands. The material was soft, almost slippery between his fingers. He went over to her bed and laid it out. Sure enough, there was the red, white and blue of the Union Jack, its patterns displayed prominently where her breasts and hips would be if she were wearing it. Many words and images popped into his sixteen year old mind, with one continuing to rise to the forefront: It was so small. He couldn't take his eyes away from it. How can she wear this out in public, he thought, it barely covers anything!

Of course, said the small voice in his head, that was the beauty of it too. He had to give it to the Muggles: they'd created something that showed basically everything while still leaving much to the imagination. His imagination was still going full-steam ahead when he heard her outside of the door a few minutes later.

He looked around frantically. No time to put it back, he thought, and sat down on her bed, the bikini hidden beneath him. She walked into the room and smiled, closing the door securely behind her. "Sorry about that," she said as she walked over to him. "We found half of the Slytherin team having a pre-game snog-fest up at the Astronomy Tower." She sat down on his lap, kissing him on his neck. She pulled back after a moment and said "You look like a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar, what have you been up to?"

"Nothing!" he said, hoping it sounded convincing. She stood up, and took his hands into hers, trying to pull him up to his feet. His rear end stayed firmly planted on the bed though. She was smirking at him now. She took out her wand and pointed it at him. He gulped.

"Don't make me do this the hard way," she grinned. He was about to protest his innocence again when she flicked her wand "Mobilicorpus!" His feet lifted up off the ground and his whole body moved about two feet to the left, to where her wand was pointing. She picked up the bikini, held it right under his nose and said, "You went through my things?" Amazingly, she didn't sound angry - yet.

"No..." he replied, looking guilty. "I used a summoning charm over your trunk, just to see if it was in there." He shrugged apologetically. He looked down at the ground for a moment, then back up at her, giving her a set of well-timed puppy dog eyes.

She laughed, sitting down next to him on the bed. "Well, I hope you don't have some raunchy idea that I'm going to try it on for you. Because I'm not, not after the way you've behaved tonight."

He leaned in, and whispering into her ear. "And what do I have to do to earn that privilege?"

She giggled and pushed him down into the pillows at the head of her bed. Instead of answering his question, she crawled on top of him, curtains of red hair cascading around their faces, and kissed him hard on the mouth.

It was time to go all too soon. He had to get some sleep tonight, he told her, Quidditch game tomorrow. "Do you think you'll win?" she asked, head still leaning against his chest.

"Of course we'll win!" he sounded shocked that she even had to ask. "We'll probably shut them out."

"Confident little man aren't you?" she smirked.

"Always..." he said, getting up off the bed. He started to straighten his robes.

She reached down the side of the bed, picking the discarded bikini up off the floor. "Confident enough to lay a bet on it?"

He turned, looked at her, and then at the bikini in her hands. "Are you saying... that if we win tomorrow, you'll try it on?"

"No. I'm saying that if you shut them out I will," she licked her lips and grinned at him. "If Slytherin scores, no deal... it's a draw then."

"And if Gryffindor loses?" He was sure he didn't want to hear the answer.

She tossed the bikini at him. "If Gryffindor loses, then we'll see how good you look in it, won't we?"

* * *

It had always seemed like a crime to James that classes were even held on the day of a Quidditch match. He could be out polishing his broom, or working on cornering while flying, but instead, he was sitting in Potions class with a smug looking Sirius Black parked next to him. From the moment Lily had pointed out the love bite on Sirius' neck the morning before, there had been little doubt in James' mind as to how it got there. He couldn't bring himself to be mad about it. Sirius was very good at getting what he wanted, and James was very pleased to see Sirius happy.

There was no change in Lily, however. She was acting as if nothing had happened, even though something obviously had. Did she not want them to know? Why keep it a secret, he wondered and not for the first time. After spending so much time alone with her in the last month because of their Prefect obligations, James had thought that he had a good idea who Lily Evans was. This didn't seem like her at all. Above all, he prized her honesty in their friendship. Everyone has secrets, he thought, but this seems to be a silly one to keep. There wasn't much that James could do about it though, aside from wait and watch.

Professor Hawthorne was holding up several recent copies of 'The Daily Prophet'. "Its not often," she said, "that the study of Potions or Herbology coincides with current events. As you may or may not know, the children that were attacked with this mysterious sleeping curse were also attacked in a more subtle way. Roots started to grow up out of the ground at their feet, binding them to the place they stood. Various potions and other means have been used to attempt to halt its growth, to no effect." She set the papers down and started passing out small boxes to each student. "These are samples of said root, which Professor Sprout and I have procured from the Ministry in order for our sixth and seventh years to study." She returned to the front of the classroom, a sneering grin on her face. "I do not expect that any of you should prove so clever as to find the solution where hundreds of the best minds in the Ministry have failed, but we are interested in seeing what information you can gather on this plant, and if it would have any uses or merits of its own in an apothecary. You will also find a list of the potions that the Ministry has tried thus far, I suggest that you make yourselves familiar with the brewing of these potions."

All the students stared at their boxes, not particularly keen on touching them. "I have assurances," said Prof. Hawthorne, gauging the reaction of her class, "that the plants are completely inert now. You will have a month to work on this; your findings will replace your end of the month exam for October for this class as well as Herbology." Happy murmurs filled the classroom as the bell rang.

As the students made their way back up to the main floor of the castle, a few snide remarks were once again exchanged between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Severus Snape said something that made James raise his arm, ready to hit him. A small but firm hand on his shoulder stopped him. Snape laughed and waked away with his housemates. From behind him, Lily whispered, "Don't let him get to you, that's what he wants."

James let out a low growl and pulled out of her grasp. "One of these days though...." He promised.

"Why not find a way to get under his skin instead? Distract him from his game," Lily offered. Remus and Lily were escorting him and Sirius to the main gate, where the latter pair would exit to the Quidditch field.

"Any suggestions?" he asked.

"Wink at him," she said, grinning wickedly. "That seems to distract at least half of the student body at Hogwarts."

Sirius was laughing, as was Remus. Lily was holding James' gaze. There was an air of extra confidence about her now; Sirius gave her that, James told himself. Instead of making her seem the braggart, as Sirius often did, it added to her quiet beauty. She was still quick to anger, you could see that in her eyes, but now... she seemed much more in control.

James shrugged "I'd rather just hit him with a broom." He clapped Sirius on the back, and they left the castle behind.

The game was held after dinner that evening, and it seemed as if the whole school had come out to watch. Lily sat up in the Gryffindor section, between Peter and Remus. On the field far below, the referee blew his whistle, and seven streaks of crimson flew up into the air. On the far side of the field, the Slytherin team took flight as well. Two lines of Chasers glared at each other, eyes darting back down to the ground where the referee waited for the right moment. Suddenly, the Quaffle was tossed into the air, and the game began.

Slytherin took first possession, its chaser deftly dodging the Bludgers that Sirius and the other Gryffindor Beater, Arrand Findwinder, were pelting at him. The chaser, a Slytherin sixth year who looked like his parents met at a family reunion, got close enough to the Gryffindor goals to attempt to score, but was blocked with ease by their Keeper, a fourth year girl named O'Reily. With a triumphant grin, she tossed the Quaffle to James, who took off towards the Slytherin goal posts in a burst of speed.

He rolled to his left, dodging a Bludger and a Slytherin chaser to boot. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the Seekers for each team hovering high above, trying to spot the Golden Snitch. James veered back to the right, heading straight for Snape and the Slytherin goal posts. Snape was glaring at him, ready for the throw. Lily's pre-game advice flashed in his mind. James raised his right arm, ready to throw. As he released the Quaffle at Snape, he blew Snape a kiss. Confusion, followed by disgust flashed on Severus' face, but only for a moment. It was enough; Gryffindor scored.

James turned his broom, heading back to midfield. He smiled at the sound of the cursing Snape behind him. Slytherin had possession again, since James had just scored, but it didn't last for long. Sirius had managed to knock the Quaffle out of the hands of Slytherin's captain, Prunella Brautgaarder who could have passed for a member of the German Olympic swimming team. James went into a vertical dive, catching the Quaffle and then throwing it to Meg Surrey, another chaser for Gryffindor. The two beaters in green were accelerating towards her, like dragons spying a sacrificial virgin snack, looking to pin her between them and regain control. Sirius smacked a Bludger hard, hitting one of them in the back and giving Meg enough room to score. The score was twenty to zero now.

Before the end of the first hour, Gryffindor was leading by seventy points, and Slytherin had not managed to answer a single score. O'Reily was deflecting all attempts beautifully. She had control of the Quaffle again, and tossed it high in the air to Surrey who reached the midfield. before a Bludger knocked it out of her arm. She was wincing; the blow landed on her elbow. James looped through the air and snatched the Quaffle out of the expectant arms of a Slytherin chaser. Throwing on another burst of speed, he headed for Snape. He feinted to the left and threw the ball through the far right goal. When Snape gave him a steely glare, James just winked at him.

Two more attempts to score from Slytherin had been denied before James found himself racing towards the goal posts once more. Snape caught the Quaffle and handed it off to one of his Seekers. James made a quick but very suggestive gesture with his hands, pointing between him and Snape. That was the final straw apparently, for seconds later Snape's broom was zooming away from the goals and towards James, who ducked out of the way just in time to see the two Seekers diving towards the stands. The Golden Snitch was hovering over a group of Hufflepuffs, who hadn't seen it yet and were frantically diving to avoid being hit by the speeding Seekers.

Two roars of approval boomed through the Quidditch stands at once, and for very different reasons. At the Gryffindor end, a chaser had just squeaked the Quaffle past O'Reily, scoring for Slytherin house for the first time; in the stands, the new Gryffindor Seeker, an amazing second year student named Crius Smythe, was holding his arm high in the air. He'd caught the snitch; Gryffindor won.

The referee blew the whistle; the game was over. James flew down towards the ground, intending to join his celebrating teammates, but he never made it. Just fifteen feet from the ground, he felt a large whack at the back of his skull and everything went black.

He woke up a few minutes later, surrounded by his teammates. The sounds of angry screams filled the air. James propped himself up on his elbows, looking around. Professor McGonagall was yelling at Snape, who was protesting his innocence. An accident, James heard him say, that's all it was. Sirius was staring down at him, a worried expression on his face. "You okay?" he asked.

James stood up, trying not to look as wobbly as he felt. He nodded at Sirius as Meg Surrey looped herself under his shoulders, leading James towards the lockers. Once he'd confirmed James' well being, Sirius took off running towards Snape, who ducked behind Professor McGonagall. It took all of the Gryffindor team, and a few seventh year students that had come on to the field, to keep Sirius off of Snape. James turned his head back towards the lockers, smiling softly to himself.

"Need anything, Potter?" he heard Meg ask. "Anything I can do for you?"

"Yeah," James said, rubbing the back of his head. "The next time I feel the urge to flirt with Snape, don't let me."

* * *

Guilty tears filled Lily's eyes while James told her why Snape had attacked him on the field later that night, when all of Gryffindor was celebrating their victory in the Common Room. James was being treated like a war hero, everyone asking to see the bump on his head. The only person that got more attention was young Mister Smythe, who was blushing furiously from all the praise on his great catch of the Golden Snitch.

"I am so sorry, James." Lily said, for about the hundredth time that night. "I never thought-"

"Will you let it go, woman!" he was laughing at her now, impossible to contain it any longer. "Just the look on his face the first time I blew a kiss at him made this" he pointed to the rather large bump on the back of his skull, "more than worth it. Madam Pomfrey says that no damage was done; she told me I had a thick skull."

"That he does," chimed in Remus looking equally amused at Lily's guilt. "It's amazing that he has any room for a brain in there at all."

"Well," said Lily, clucking at him maternally. "At least let me get one of the other prefects to fill in for you tonight, you should be resting."

James considered it for a moment; the idea of skiving off his Prefect duties was appealing, but he figured that if he did Lily would just worry more, thinking that he was actually hurt. "No need," he said finally. "The walk will do me good."

They left the clearing of the Common Room to Annalise and Gregg, the other fifth year Prefect, and exited out the portrait door. James could have sworn that the Fat Lady winked at him as they rounded the corner. Lily saw it too, and was chuckling softly. Near the entrance to the Great Hall, they met up with the two Hufflepuff Prefects on duty that night, who informed James that Snape had lost thirty points for the 'love tap' on the Quidditch field. They had a good laugh over it, and then went on their separate ways once more.

He walked with Lily in silence for a while, enjoying her company. She stopped in front of a large window on the second floor that overlooked the main grounds. He stood next to her, and then stared down at her face until, blushing slightly, she looked up at him. "Anything you want to tell me, Lily?" She cocked an eyebrow at him questioningly. "About you and Sirius?"

The color rose in her cheeks. "He told you then, did he?"

James shook his head slowly.

"You... you mean you just guessed?" James nodded, holding her gaze. Lily made a small shrug and looked back out the window. "It's nothing really. Just a fringe benefit to our friendship." She was wringing her hands. "I'm not his girlfriend if that's what you're thinking."

James scoffed. "You're really something else, you know that? I'd like to see you tell that to him, even if you are doing a smashing job of convincing yourself of it."

"It's just kissing," she protested. She could feel him staring at her.

"Not to Sirius, and you bloody well know it." He retorted, poking her in the shoulder for emphasis. "He's done everything but follow you around on bended knee these last few days."

"Oh please," she muttered annoyed at this turn of events. "He's dated half the girls in our year. I have no desire to walk down the hall and let people speculate as to when he'll get bored with me."

"So you'd rather be the girl that he was snogging behind closed doors?" James asked. "That's real dignified, Lily. You know that you deserve better than that."

"And what if that's all I want? Hmm?" she turned and faced him again. "Can't a girl enjoy a snog just for snoggings sake? Or do I have to walk around and sigh with a dreamy look in my eyes all day," She was poking a finger into his chest now, pushing him backwards, "just because Mister James fucking Potter thinks that that is how I should behave? Things are just the way I want them to be, and no one is getting hurt, so just stay the hell out of it, will you?"

"No, I won't." His eyes went cold as he looked at her, anger building up inside of him. "Because you know that someone is going to get hurt, you're just determined to do everything you can to make sure that it isn't you." She shoved him aside and started to walk away. He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around, so that she was facing him again. "If you are so sure that this is what you want, then you owe it to Sirius to tell him." She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "The longer you wait, the more you'll break his heart in the end."

"Why do you keep pushing me into his arms? Every time I turn around you're there to recall all his good qualities." She threw her hands in the air. "Why do you want to see us get together?"

"What I want," he glowered down at her, "Miss Lily fucking Evans, is to see you happy, in spite of yourself and regardless of all the little lies you tell yourself to justify what you are doing." He pushed her shoulders, making her take a few steps back from him. He took a deep breath before speaking again, trying to swallow his anger. "You have come so far in these last few weeks, I'd hate to see you shut life out again." He reached out, offering her a hand. "Could you get hurt? Yes, but you could even if you never laid eyes on Sirius Black again. That's what life is about, being happy, getting hurt and looking for happiness again. It's like that ride at Drayton Manor, the rolling coaster."

"Roller coaster," she corrected.

"Roller coaster," he repeated, giving her a small smile. "The point is, that until you get on the ride, you'll never know what it's going to be like."

She took his hand, and they started walking back down the hall. She slid her arm up after a moment, until it was looped through his. "I don't know what I want," she said after a short distance. "And you're right, I don't want to get hurt." She took a deep breath. "Does he know how lucky he is to have you for a friend?"

James shook his head, giving her a small smile. "Not a clue," he said. "Though with the spell you have on him, I doubt if he even remembers my name at the moment."

Lily blushed, giving him an exaggerated eye roll. After a few moments she spoke again. "It is rather nice," she mused. "Having a boy pay attention to me. But really, I don't know about Sirius... I mean, he's an amazing kisser," James groaned, as if to say that he didn't need to know that. "But if it doesn't work out, what about the rest of us?"

James stopped walking, turning to face her. "Is that what you're afraid of? That Remus, Peter or I wouldn't like you anymore?" Her face was shadowed, but he still saw the small nod that she gave. "Lily, even if you tore my own heart out of my chest, stomped it into the ground and then ran off to the waiting, albeit greasy arms of Severus Snape," he gave her an exaggerated grin, "I'd still want you in my life."

Lily laughed, "Oh right, as if I could ever hurt you."

Funny, he thought to himself as they continued patrolling the halls, it seems like you've done nothing but that lately.

* * *

Lily didn't come down to breakfast on Saturday, or lunch. Before dinner, Remus knocked on her door. "Who is it?" she asked from behind the door.

"It's Remus... are you okay?" he asked trying not to sound worried.

"Fine," she replied, still not opening the door. "Just feeling a bit off, feminine troubles." Ah, the old excuses, Lily mused, still the best way to get a bloke to lay off you for a while.

"Oh," he replied, blushing slightly. "Do you want me to bring you up some food?"

"No need, I still have sweets in here from my birthday. Just need a bit of a lie-in." She cracked the door open and smiled out at him. "Thanks for asking though, Remus. I'll be down for breakfast tomorrow, I promise."

Remus gave her a small wave and headed down to the Great Hall. He reported Lily's condition to the others and started to fill his plate with food.

James watched Sirius from across the table; Sirius looked like he had a lot on his mind. James considered telling him very briefly about his talk with Lily the night before, but decided against it. Lily had left him last night saying that she was going to do a lot of thinking about 'this whole thing' as she referred to it, and he felt that she deserved time to make up her mind. It hurt him though, to see his friend pining for her. It hurt even more, realizing that Lily would probably choose to be with Sirius, and that he would soon be the one pining from afar.

Well, he told himself, its not as if you offered her another option. He'd told her the truth last night, when he'd said that he wanted to see her happy. What he hadn't told her was that he was starting to realize how happy he would be if he was the one to bring that joy to her life. It was amazing, he decided, how one person could so turn your life around. There really wasn't any rhyme or reason to it either; she was beautiful, there was no question about that, but it was the things he was learning about her as a person, like how naïve she was in matters of the heart that endeared her to him. He adored the sound of her laughter, and how quick her temper (and her wit) was when she was provoked. She wasn't like any other girl he'd ever known.

With a pang of regret, James wished that his father were still around, so that he could talk to him about Lily. His dad would have understood why James felt the need to just stand by, instead of actively pursuing Lily like Sirius was. Nothing is ever easy, he said to himself. His father's laughter echoed in his memories, and he heard his dad's voice saying 'Nothing worth it ever is.' He recalled his father talking about his mother, before they'd been married. 'Why James,' he'd said, 'Maddie drove me absolutely corking mad, but when she smiled, none of it mattered. And as long as she keeps smiling, none of it ever will.' Madeline Potter had been sitting by the fire that night, and rolled her eyes at her husband, telling him that if he wanted to see her smile some more, he'd go in and clean up the kitchen for her.

Unlike so many boys his age, James was never ashamed of the open affection his parents displayed for each other. That's how it was in the faerie tales, he'd told himself as a child, after the words 'Happily Ever After'. His parents had been together for many years, but still looked at each other like nervous teenagers. Was it so wrong, he asked himself, to want the same thing? Was he crazy to hope that he might have something so enduring with Lily Evans?

More importantly, he mentally retorted, how much of a git are you for wanting such a thing while your best friend in the whole world sits across the table from you, head over heels for the same girl? James gulped back his guilt. The truth is, he said to himself, that you know you will never step up while Sirius still has a chance. And it was probably better this way, standing aside, not chasing after her as he'd promised. Bollocks, he thought after a moment, you may not be chasing, but you certainly are waiting for her, and that can be just as bad.

James excused himself from the table, claiming that he needed to go and study. He went back to his room and buried his face into his pillows, trying very hard not to see her face behind his eyes, and trying even harder not to hope that she dropped Sirius on his arse the next time she saw him. Just wait and see, he told himself as he drifted off to sleep, just wait and see.

After breakfast the next morning, James realized something: Whenever you're waiting for something good to happen, time stretches on forever; whenever you're expecting the worst, it happens before you've finished blinking. Such was the case with Lily. She'd marched into the great hall that morning, looking bright eyed and smiling widely at all of them. She took a seat next to Sirius, who had his hands folded on the Sunday edition of the Daily Prophet, skimming the scores of the international Quidditch matches from the day before.

Without a hint of shame or hesitation, she'd slipped her hand under his, holding it firmly. With her other hand, she poured herself a glass of orange juice, while they'd all stared at her and Sirius.

Sirius looked as if someone had set off Filibuster Fireworks in his eyes. His smile took up his whole face, and with a bit of daring, he had leaned over and given Lily a small peck on the cheek. She'd turned and smiled back at him, asking how his morning was going.

Remus and Peter were giving the new couple curious glances, but Lily just ignored them. James didn't think that Sirius even knew that Remus and Peter were still at the table; Sirius never took his eyes off Lily throughout the whole breakfast, afraid that she might vanish again if he took the time to blink.

James thought that he'd put on a good face, laughing at all the right times during the conversations that morning, but inside, he was a mess. Before he realized it, he'd agreed to go up to the library with her and Sirius to work on some Defense Against the Dark Arts essay. Just great, he thought, cursing himself for not paying more attention. I'd rather watch Snape take a shower than watch Lily cuddle up to Sirius all day.

In the end, the five of them had gone to the library together. They passed by Justice Munroe on their way in, who was sound asleep in her Herbology book. The options for mischief against the snoozing Head Girl were discussed until Lily came back carrying a book on vampires and had given them a good tongue lashing for it.

The worked for several hours, until Peter pointed out with a small whinge that it was time for dinner. They packed up their books and made their way out of the towering stacks of books. Lily stopped right before the door, and pointed to a table. There was Justice, still sleeping, oblivious to the world around her. "Hold up a second," Lily said. "I'm going to wake her up so that she doesn't miss dinner."

Lily prodded Justice gently in the shoulder, whispering her name. No reaction. She said the Head Girl's name louder, tapping her on the top of her head. "Sound sleeper, isn't she?" Lily said, looking amused.

James took a step forward, pointing at something on the ground with his wand. "Someone go get Dumbledore," he said.

"What is it?" Lily asked, moving around the table to see what the fuss was about.

Up through the floorboards, dark green vines were growing around Justice Munroe's feet.