Chapter 23

"What the hell, Pads?" James asked Sirius as he striped out of his Quidditch robes. "First you don't come to my game, then I come back and you're all cozy with Lily? What's the deal? Are you guys together now?" James was rambling angrily and threw the robe at the bed.

"Chill," Sirius said calmly and took a seat on his bed while watching James.

"What happened to never going after someone else's interest?" James wasn't listening to Sirius as he stomped around the room and ranted. 

"Are you done?" Sirius finally snapped. "I have no interest in Lily besides being friends. You know I think you should be dating and you're both just being thick. I was at your game! Lily was too! She got upset and I followed her because I'm not a total dick," Sirius said flatly and James stopped, lamely. 

"I never said you were a dick," James mumbled, ashamed of how he lashed out at his best friend. No, his brother. "I'm sorry," James sighed and held his hand out for Sirius to take. 

"Yeah, you should be," Sirius rolled his eyes but took James's hand. They did the classic bro hug. "Get off your high horse and ask her out. We're tired of waiting. You like her," Sirius said. "And you're kind of a douche when you're jealous," James didn't respond. He threw on a tee shirt and left to go find Lily. He stood at the top of the stairs looking down into the common room. He scanned the room for Lily and saw her sitting with a small group. One of the guys had his arm around Lily and they were laughing together in the group. He didn't stay long enough to see Lily escape his hold and move next to Marlene. 

Instead, he went down to the party and drank way too much. Remus and Sirius had to drag him to his room that night so he didn't do anything he would regret. He refused to tell Remus and Sirius what was wrong. Instead he curled in his bed and slammed the curtains shut so he could be alone. On the outside, everyone may had seen James as strong, funny, not a care in the world but that couldn't be further from the truth. He cared too much. He felt stupid for caring so much about Lily who obviously didn't care about him for years and here he was again, same situation and same hurt feelings that he chose to hide from everyone. He had spent so many days laughing with everyone and pretending he wasn't hurt, and the nights alone in his bed just wanting to move on. He was thankful for Sirius who was always his light when he was feeling down, but not even Sirius could help that night.

Lily woke up early the next morning to head down to the Great Hall. She hadn't gotten a chance to talk to James the night before. She was going to tell James she wanted to be together and apologize for everything. Marlene mumbled something in her sleep as Lily put in her earrings that James had given her the previous Christmas. They were bloomed, white lily flowers. Lily smiled at herself in the mirror and started to walk down. 

As she approached the entrance to the great hall, she easily spotted James at the Gryffindor table. Just as she was about to go over and approach him, she felt Sirius grab her upper arm. 

"Sirius? What the hell?" Lily asked angrily, but Sirius shushed her and dragged her from the hall. He pointed over to James and Lily noticed he was holding a rose. She narrowed her eyes in confusion as she saw him give it to a sixth year Gryffindor, Katie Holmes. Katie was a sweet girl. She normally kept to herself and what you saw was what you got. She was smart and funny around people she was comfortable with. Lily had nothing against her, until now. Katie looked surprised but gladly took the rose and James sat next to her.

"I told him not to," Sirius sighed and watched the two of them sadly. "He was angry last night about us spending time together but I explained to him and he said he was going to talk to you. Next thing I knew he was drunk off firewhiskey and Moony and I dragged him to bed," Sirius looked at Lily with sympathy.

"I don't get it," Lily looked at Sirius confused. "He never came to talk to me. I mean, I was going to talk to him but he was never alone. Why?" Lily asked and Sirius hugged her. Lily sighed, her appetite was gone. Before Sirius could answer her, the familiar drawl of Severus Snape drifted over to them.

"Moved from blood traitor to blood traitor?" Snape sneered and Lily rolled her eyes, letting go of Sirius. Snape had his whole posse behind him.

"Walk away, Snape," Lily said coldly and stood in front of Sirius. Sirius pushed her to the side and tried to size Snape up, despite being almost a head shorter than him.

"As if dishonoring the family wasn't enough, moving onto Mudbloods too?" Bellatrix cooed at Sirius and Lily grabbed Sirius's arms to stop him from attacking her. "You're dishonoring the Black family name," Bellatrix screeched and a couple of first years that were watching, ran off in terror. 

"Sirius, come on," Lily pleaded but he was fighting against her. 

"Don't you dare call her that," Sirius snarled,    and tried to kick her. Lily felt someone next to her pulling Sirius back and was glad to see Marlene.

"Wait till your mum finds out," Bellatrix started laughing. "Sirius Black and a Mud-"

"Leave it alone, Bella," Regulus stepped in front of both Snape and Bellatrix. 

"Watch out, Reg, with that attitude you'll be joining your lovely traitor of a brother," Bellatrix sang to the younger boy. The Sytherin's disappeared as Professor Dumbledore was leaving the great hall. James was close behind him. Sirius shook himself free from Lily and Marlene's grasp and walked off.

"Go to him," Lily told Marlene but she shook her head. "Come on, it's time to forgive him. You know you want to see if he's alright," Lily looked at Marlene but she walked away. She looked back, asking Lily through her eyes to make sure he was okay. Lily nodded and Marlene walked to the Great Hall to eat.

"What happened?" James asked and Lily turned to walk away.

"Nothing," Lily said flatly, leaving James in the dust. She heard some screams from down the hall and broke out into a run to find Sirius. The first years that had ran away from the argument were watching terrified, as Sirius slammed a classroom shut. Lily unlocked the door and followed him inside. Sirius had his head in his knees as he rocked back and forth. Lily locked the door and sat next to him. She put an arm around him in a hug. They sat in silence together. There were laughs echoing up into the open window. 

"They don't define you," Lily whispered and rubbed his back. 

"It doesn't matter. My last name is with me wherever I go. You saw those first years when they heard I was a Black," Sirius snapped but didn't push Lily away. "Marlene hates me, everyone thinks I'm evil, what's the point anymore?"

"Hey. No one thinks you're evil," Lily said, surprised. "You made the choice to be good and everyone can see that," Lily rubbed his arm and he nodded. "You're a good guy," Lily whispered and Sirius shook his head. They sat in silence until Sirius started to feel better and Lily pretended to be interested in the bug by her shoe as Sirius wiped his eyes.

"Thank you," Sirius mumbled and bumped her shoulder. "For... you know... everything the past couple weeks and summer and everything," Sirius rambled and Lily squeezed his hand. 

"Anything for a friend," Lily smiled at him and he smiled bashfully at the floor. 

"I've never had close friends except for the boys. It's nice to have other people too," Sirius looked up at Lily. Lily laughed a little and squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry about James. I did tell him not to and that you guys-"

"It's okay," Lily's face dropped as she remembered what happened earlier. 

"He's just working through something," Sirius tried to explain and Lily nodded. 

"Come on, I don't want to think about it. Let's go have fun today. Forget James, forget Marlene, we can do anything. We're fun and better without them," Lily stood up and held her hand out. Sirius had a mischievous smile and Lily smiled back now that he was feeling better.

"You know it," Sirius winked and pulled Lily from the room.

Lily made a mental vow to never, ever, refer to Sirius as 'Black' again.

A/N: I hope you guys like reading about Lily's friendship with the others because there will be more exploring of that in the next couple chapters. I love writing Sirius and Lily's relationship so don't be surprised if it continues to develop. Thank you for so many votes and reads! I totally expected only my friend to read this and I'm blown away at how the story has taken off. I'm glad you guys like reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. Just remember, as painful as James and Lily's relationship is, they get the happily ever after :)