"And Remus?" she questioned not so subtly.
"What about him?" Sirius said cautiously, his face eerily unreadable.
"He's..." Lily trailed off as she Sirius spot Remus across the room and give him a small smile. "He's a bit more than just a friend, isn't he?"
"Of course." Sirius smirked. "He's not just my friend. He's one of my best friends." Lily didn't find this funny.
"You know that's not what I meant."
Sirius paled and hastily opened his flask. He took a long swig and glanced wistfully across the room before speaking.
"How did you know?" he finally said, avoiding eye contact. "Did he... did Remus tell you?" Lily shook her head.
"It's not hard to see." She shrugged, adjusting her necklace. "You are rather obvious."
"No we're not," Sirius disagreed gruffly.
"Yes, yes you are," Lily corrected him. "Always going off together, the secret touches when you think no one is watching, the lingering gazes that are clearly much more than platonic..."
"Alright," he held up a hand, stopping her. "I see your point."
"Does James know?" Sirius stared at his shoes. "I assume that's a no," Lily correctly guessed. "I don't think you should worry so much," she said matter-of-factly. "James is no bigot; if he were, I wouldn't be dating him."
"Dating him?" Sirius looked up with a smirk. Lily flushed bright red, but to her credit, she continued speaking completely normally.
"I doubt he'd have any issue with you and Remus being together."
"That's not the issue. Well, that's part of the issue," he added. "But really, it's that it's always been the four of us: the Marauders. And James and I have always been inseparable. He was the most important person in my life, and now..."
"Now you have Remus," Lily finished for him, urging for him to continue.
"James is still my brother, and obviously I still love him, but I feel almost like... like I'm abandoning him."
"You're not abandoning him," she reassured Sirius, nudging him with her elbow. "Like you just said, he's still your brother, so you're obviously not planning on ending your friendship any time soon. And he's still got Remus, and Peter, and... I suppose he has me too."
"You know," Sirius straightened up and cleared his throat. "You're not half-bad Evans."
"Neither are you Black," Lily replied jokingly. They chuckled as a group of fifth year Hufflepuffs danced past.
"You're good for James," Sirius decided, nodding. "He needs someone who's sensible."
"And oddly enough, I think you're good for Remus," Lily added with a smile. "He needs someone who's not so sensible." Sirius feigned indignation and fake gasped.
"I take back what I said about you not being half-bad." Lily rolled her eyes, and they both glanced up as they saw James approaching with two drinks in hand.
"Lily and Sirius? Talking? And no one's dead yet?" James raised his eyebrows and handed Lily her drink. "Must be a Christmas miracle."
"He was just saying how I'm a lovely girl, and he's so sorry for treating me so poorly all these years," Lily cooed, batting her eyelashes exageratingly.
"Not entirely true," Sirius said, shrugging and taking a sip from his flask.
"May I have this dance?" James bowed his head and held out his hand.
YOU ARE READING
Harry Potter and The Boy Who Had No Choice
Fanfiction"Face it Malfoy, you're a bloody coward." Harry's smile was gone, replaced by a menacing scowl. While he was talking, he had made his way back to Malfoy, who was now standing in front of him, seething with anger. "I. Am. Not. A. Coward," Malfoy sa...
Guessing Games
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