A Change of Heart

Chapter 12

When class finally ended, there wasn't a person in the room who wasn't relieved to be out. Getting used to the Marauders took time, but now being accustomed to their antics and having to face class when they were out of sorts was dreadful. The first to make a mad dash out of the door was James, followed soon after by Remus, Peter, and a fidgety Sirius who excused himself hastily from Lily. As Lily gathered her things, she heard professor Munin call her name.

"Can I have a word with you Ms. Evans?" he said from his desk.

"Sure," she said picking up her bag and walking towards the old professor.

"Well, Miss Evans I'm delighted to inform you that I have assured two possible candidates for your tutoring. Now I am confident you want to start as soon as possible so you'll be delighted to hear that you can start tutoring on Monday at seven. I have yet to talk to your tutor, but I'm sure he'll agree," Professor Munin said smiling brightly at Lily. "I'm hoping you'll do great!"

"Thank you Professor," she hesitated before leaving. "Professor, do you mind if I ask who it is you have in mind?"

"It's a surprise! I'd hate to spoil it. Anyway, I thought you could use the best help possible. I assure you this student is the top of my class and quite a great person," he said still smiling.

She left wondering who the professor was talking about. She was only grateful that he sounded happier than when he had told her she needed the tutoring. Professor Munin was after all one of her favorite teachers. However, she had heard that the 40 year old teacher would be leaving his position at Hogwarts to work at the ministry. He was an ex-Auror and because of Professor Dumbledore's pleas to help in the fight against Voldemort, had agreed to come out of retirement as deputy head of the department of law enforcement. The head of the department was none other than James' father, Eric Potter. In his own right, Eric Potter was the best Auror in the field. He seemed to have the catching-bad-guys scheme down pretty well. That was why she wasn't surprised when she saw James rescue a couple of first year Hufflepuffs form the evil grips of the Slytherins.

"Look here Malfoy; pick on someone your own size!" James said angrily at the seventh year Slytherin. "Or you'll have to deal with me."

"Well if it isn't our very own mudblood lover? You meddlesome fool, don't you understand? Magic wasn't meant for people like them! We are far superior than they are and here you are fighting your own to protect them!" Lucius spitted out angrily.

"Where did you get the notion that you and I come from the same place? Where did you get the idea that you're superior to everyone else? Got off your high horse Malfoy! If there's anyone inferior here, it's you for believing such stupid nonsense," James retaliated. "You won't even fight without your goons!"

As soon as he said the words Malfoy directed a hex in James direction but missed as James moved too quickly. In retaliation he called out 'Rictusempra'. The spell hit Lucius so hard that he doubled over breathless, while his two goons, Crabbe and Goyle looked at James with a mixture of fear and anger.

"Do you really want to test what I can do to you?" James said smugly. They backed away slowly, trying to pick up Lucius, but being actually too dumb to figure out how to help him. James had walked away swiftly, telling the Hufflepuff first years to warn him if the Slytherins tried anything against them.

She had seen half the attack, convinced that he had it under control. That had been the first time Lily had ever seen James rightfully attack a person. She recalled he had gotten a week's worth of detention for it, but hadn't complained or bragged about it either. Then again, the next week, she had also seen him set a third year's book on fire for apparently no reason.

And so that's how she spent her day. She started out thinking about things like her DADA lesson and ended up connecting it somehow to James Potter. She didn't even know where the connection of thoughts began, but she had never been invaded by the thought of a person as much as he had been invaded by James. She couldn't really think as of why either. She could, but she wasn't willing to accept an explanation her heart provided. She knew somewhere in her mind, she was somehow the source of the fight between James and Sirius. 'I took something which meant a lot to him...' Sirius words rang in the back of her mind.

***

Sirius had to admit that, by the end of the day when he finally going to sleep, he had never felt as tired and depressed as he was right then. He had spent the better part of the day trying to talk to his best friend. He had tried speaking to him during their lunch break only to have to retreat unwillingly. James, he observed, just wouldn't listen to anything he had to say. In an attempt to enlist help in his mission to make peace, Sirius had told Remus and Peter about the situation. Peter seemed to be shutting him out since having heard the reason for the fight. However, he had gotten calm understanding from Remus, along with several opinions to make James forgive him. They were in the library discussing the events thoroughly, even with Sirius' reluctance to relive the events.

"What did you say to him Sirius?" Remus asked calmly.

"Well..." Sirius hesitated. "I kinda blew up at him."

"Sirius, what did you say?" Remus asked again sternly.

"I told him she thought he was a prat. That Lily didn't like him; that he hadn't even talked to her. I'm not proud of myself. I was a bit harsh," Sirius said regrettably.

"You don't say?" Remus said wryly.

"You have to help me Remus. You have to help me convince him..." Sirius pleaded.

"Convince him of what exactly?" Remus asked even though he knew the answer.

"Convince him that I'm sorry but that I still care a lot about Lily," Sirius said avoiding his friend's eyes.

"Do you? She's not another one of those girls is she?" Remus said warily. "Because I have to tell you, even though you're my friend, she is too. I wouldn't like to see her get hurt--"

"No!" he said desperately. "Not at all. I- I have feelings for her. She's great-- she makes me think..."

"Which I know is a big step for you," Remus said jokingly only to receive a glare from his friend. "You walked into that one mate. Besides, you need a laugh; it's been a dreadful day."

"You can say that again," Sirius said dejectedly.

"You know, I'm sure James will be okay. I'll talk to him. You should just steer clear from him for a couple of days and talk to Lily and make sure everything okay for tomorrow," Remus said picking up his books.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Sirius asked confused.

"Well, you've been somewhere else all day. That and you haven't been to any of our afternoon classes," Remus said plainly.

"I'm just glad he didn't try to hex me or punch me..." Sirius said relieved. "But you're right; I should talk to Lily before I turn in. Then I'm going to just throw myself on the bed and hopefully wake up before James comes in. I really should let him cool down."

"So you're going to head to the common room right now?" Remus asked curiously.

"Yeah, I mean, that's where she'll be right?" Sirius asked uncertain.

"Yeah, I guess, but it's still early, she might be in the great hall..." Remus said looking at his watch. "Go on to the Great Hall. Anyhow, I want to see if James is in the common room so I can have that talk with him."

***

Sirius went to find Lily, only to find she had retrieved to her dormitory. Sarah, who he had known just as long as he had known Lily had just given him a sweet smile and cooed, "You're looking for dearest Lily? She'll be delighted!"

He smiled embarrassedly at her mockery. Lily would've killed her if she had heard her best friend say that. Hannah, who had also been eating dinner with her, had looked at Sarah delighted at her joke.

"She is going to kill you when I tell her!" she threatened laughing.

He smiled at the way they acted. They were like a different version of the marauders... except they were, well, girls and only three. He sat down and started talking to them, feeling at ease at the light conversation with the two girls. He inquired about Lily's taste, forgetting his troubles for a while and taking advantage of the situation to find out Lily's preferences.

"You know Lily fairly well right?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah! I mean we've been friends since our first day!" Hannah said happily.

"So, where do you two reckon she'd like for me to take her tomorrow?" he asked animatedly.

"Having lunch in a nice place would be a good idea..." Hannah commented.

"Too formal! You'll both feel pressured!" Sarah disagreed. "Maybe to Madame Puddifoot's? That would be nice..."

"You thought lunch was formal? That old café is a couple makeout--" Hannah was poked in the ribs by Sarah who smiled mischievously at her friend. "Oh yeah! That place would be great!"

He chuckled at their behavior and smiled. "Any other suggestions?"

"Take her to Dervish and Banges, she wants a new charms book," Hannah suggested.

"And a DADA book, she needs help in the class," Sarah said thoughtfully.

"She's Head Girl, how much does she need to study?" he asked surprised.

"How do you think she got there? She cares a lot about her work," Sarah said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Thanks for the advice and when you see her tell her that if she still wants to go, I'll be waiting for her at nine," he said getting up from the Gryffindor table.

"You leaving?" Sarah asked disappointed.

"Yeah why?" he asked confused.

"She wanted to keep making some of the Slytherin girls jealous. They'd die to go out with you. They've looked at us murderously since you came to speak with us," Hannah said amused.

Sarah just smiled and waved with a sarcastic smile at the Slytherin girls who were looking angrily in their direction. They looked about ready to attack and got even angrier at Sarah's taunt.

"I think we should go with you to the common room," Hannah said worriedly eyeing the irritated girls. She looked around at the other tables only to find less than pleased girls from other houses. "Come on, let us walk you. Let's go Sarah. Stop making faces at them! They'll only get angrier!"

Sarah stopping her childish antics and was dragged away by a worried Hannah and a laughing Sirius.

"Do you like making enemies Sarah?" he asked smiling.

"It's not that I like to make enemies, but did you see their expression? You would think we were taking away their boyfriend," she said looking back in the direction of the hall. She refocused her glittering blue eyes on Sirius. "But wait! It is the great Sirius Black I'm talking to here. Most of them have been your girlfriends..."

"True! Which brings a subject of great urgency to our minds," Hannah continued.

"You guys work well together don't you?" Sirius asked amused.

Hannah ignored his comment and pulled him to a stop, while Sarah circled around them and examined the boy carefully.

"We need to know--" Hannah started giving Sirius a pointed look.

"--what you intend with Lily--" Sarah continued as she moved behind Hannah.

"--and if you plan to add her--" Hannah said warningly.

"--to your list of forgotten loves," Sarah said finally stopping behind Sirius so that he was in between the two girls.

He nodded and started to speak. "Trust me it's not like that--"

"See Sirius, Lily is our best friend and we take care of our best friends. We think that it's great that you've asked her out," Sarah interrupted with a smile.

"Wonderful really," Sarah quipped in.

"But if you do something to hurt her, trust us, you will know what its like to be at the receiving end of many of your pranks," Hannah said boldly and seriously.

"We are quick studies and you'd be surprised how much we have learned from you over the years as well as the many charms Lily knows. It's her best subject. You wouldn't be unscathed," Sarah whispered in a scary voice.

Yet, as soon as they had finished speaking they moved away from him and gave him sweet and friendly smiles. The two girls looped their arms in each of Sirius' arms and dragged the shocked boy to the common room.

"That's one hell of a trick! From friendly to intimidating in a second and back. You two are good at that," he said nervously glancing at the seemingly innocent girls.

"Don't worry. If you really don't mean any harm, no harm will come to you," Sarah said brightly.

""Okay, don't take this the wrong way but you two can be creepy," he said with a nervous laugh.

"We know..." Hannah said as they arrived to the Gryffindor tower. "Lion's den."

"Have fun tomorrow," Sarah said happily as she walked up to the girl's dormitory.

"Yeah have fun. Good night!" Hannah said walking behind her friend up the stairs.

They had walked away and he had laughed at their protectiveness. It was--sweet, after he took away their odd way to go about it. He had looked for his friends in the common room, only to find that none of them were anywhere to be found. He had walked up to find that all the beds were empty except for Frank's. He gave him a sleepy 'goodnight' as he threw himself on the bed with his school robes still on, too tired to get up and change them. As he lay summarizing the day up in his mind, he finally drifted off to sleep.