Chapter 14: Love

Sirius was exhausted, physically and emotionally. He had been here nearly two months and Dumbledore had still not managed to return him to the present. And while Sirius was thankful in this small fact as it allowed him to be in the presence of his dead friends, he wanted to get away. He couldn't stand being in the same place as Peter, knowing what happened, knowing what he would do. He wanted to murder the boy before he even betrayed Lily and James, but knew that he couldn't. It would pollute the time stream continuum too much.

In fact, the only thing that kept him sane was the companionship of Willow Briar. Sirius didn't know why, but when she was near him, he felt calmer somehow, as if all his problems could be solved.

Willow had become even friendlier with him after the Hogsmeade incident. She often stayed after class to have a quick chat and popped into his office from time to time just for a catch up or for some help if she was struggling with something in Defence against the dark arts – something that was rare, for Sirius found she was rather good at it.

The friendship that transpired between the two had not gone unnoticed by Dumbledore and he often warned Sirius to be careful.

"She is only a student, Sirius," he would say, "she may, by technicality, be a year younger than you, but at this moment, she is a student."

Sirius had taken these words on.

"It's not like I'm falling for her, Albus," he'd reply, "she's just a friendly, young girl with whom I can have an adult conversation with, and a laugh."

But, if truth were to be told, Sirius was falling for her.

He hadn't noticed at first, for it had only been friendship he had been looking for. But, as time had gone on, he found himself noticing things he wouldn't have normally noticed.

Like the fact that she didn't like sugar in her tea, just the teabag – for she hated tea leaves as well, a repercussion of taking Divination – and milk. He had passed this off due to the fact that he was the same – minus the taking of Divination.

But then he had started to notice things, unusual things. For example, when she smiled, a dimple appeared in her left cheek. Her hair wasn't just the same colour as milk chocolate; it actually had a slight auburn tinge to it when the sun light fell on it. She tended to chew on her lip when she was thinking, tapped her nails when she was bored, jiggled her right foot when she was nervous and shifted her position when she was impatient.

It was when he started noticing these things that he realised. At first, he had passed it off as friendship, then tried to pass it off as the fact that he was constantly around her.

But he couldn't deny it any longer, it was love.

Simple as that, he had fallen for her – hook, line and sinker.

Sirius groaned and dropped his head into his hands. It wasn't that he didn't not want Willow, he did. He craved her companionship, longed to hear her voice and often tried to make her laugh when they were alone, just to amuse him. He was a desperate man, an absolutely desperate man and he needed help. Serious help.

"Professor?"

He glanced up sharply to see a young girl wearing Gryffindor robes in the doorway. Her long, dark red hair fell in front of her face, and she pushed it back, tucking it behind her ears as she looked at him with her green, almond shaped eyes.

"Is everything alright?" Lily asked. "It's just, I knocked five minutes ago, and you didn't appear to notice."

Sirius shook his head.

"It's nothing, Miss Evans," he said, leaning back in his chair. "What can I help you with?"

To his surprise, Lily's cheeks flushed red as if she was embarrassed.

"Well," she started twisting her hands, a habit Sirius recognised – she did this whenever she was nervous – "I was wondering, Professor, if you could give me some advice."

Sirius looked at her and smiled slightly.

"Of course, Miss Evans, please, take a seat." He gestured to the chair opposite him, which she took, her eyes looking at her hands, her hair falling in front of her face.

"You see, Professor," she continued, still talking to her hands. "There's this guy, and I really like him, I really do, but-"

"You don't know how to tell him?" Sirius asked gently.

Lily nodded, her face flaming even more causing Sirius to smile.

"Trust me, Miss Evans," he said, walking round the table towards her. "If you love Mr Potter as much as he loves you, then you'll be fine."

"Was I that obvious?" she asked, looking up at him.

Sirius chuckled.

"I'm afraid so," he said. "But don't worry, I don't think anyone else noticed." He winked causing Lily to smile before rising from her seat, tucking her hair behind her ears again.

"Thanks, Professor," she said. "You've been a great help."

Sirius smiled.

"It's quite alright, Miss Evans," he said. "It's what I'm here for."

Lily smiled and walked towards the door, before pausing and turning, chewing her lip once again.

"Professor," she said.

"Yes, Miss Evans?"

"I can see why Willow talks to you, you're good at giving advice." And with that she was gone, leaving a stunned Sirius behind.

James sat in the Gryffindor common room, surrounded by Sirius, Remus and Peter. Remus was once again helping Peter with his homework; something he did a lot, while Sirius was levitating objects due to boredom, he had, apparently, finished his homework. James, himself, was working on the Transfiguration essay Professor McGonagall had set them.

"Pst, Prongs,"

James glanced up at Sirius to see him inclining his head towards the portrait hole.

James turned in his seat to see Lily walk in with Willow who was muttering something to her. He watched Lily shake her head, terror present. Willow, on the other hand, rolled her eyes before moving in front of Lily and saying something that James didn't hear but made Lily pale, before she grabbed Willow's shoulders. He watched as Willow turned and pointed at him before pointing at herself and staring hard at Lily, who sighed and began to walk towards him, Willow followed, looking surprisingly smug.

"Hey guys," she said lightly, walking past them and sinking onto the couch beside Sirius.

James barely registered her presence, his eyes fixated on Lily who was twitching as she stood.

"Everything alright, Lils?" he asked softly.

Lily jumped as though she had received an electric shock before swallowing hard.

"Can I talk to you, James?" she asked. "Alone." She glanced at the others.

James nodded, rising from his seat.

"Sure," he replied. "Shall we go to the kitchens?"

Lily nodded and allowed James to take her hand as they headed back towards the portrait hole; he didn't miss the thumbs up that Willow sent their way, before the portrait of the fat lady closed behind them.

Sirius watched James and Lily exit the common room before turning to face Willow who was grinning beside them.

"What was all that about?" he asked.

Willow, if possible, just grinned harder.

"Lily's going to tell James she loves him." She told him.

There was a thud as Peter dropped his book in shock while Remus gaped outright. Sirius, on the other hand, merely smirked.

"Knew it." He said before bursting into laughter. "I wish I could see James' face when he hears her say it, he'll probably faint."

His eyes lit up as an idea came to him.

"Wait here," he told Willow before darting up the stairs that led to the boys' dormitory.

"Is he always like that?" he heard Willow ask.

"You have no idea." Remus deadpanned.

Throwing open the seventh year dorm, Sirius hurried towards James' trunk and rifled through it, eventually pulling the silver invisibility cloak out. Pocketing the cloak, he hurried down the stairs, grabbed Willow's hand, pulling her off the sofa, and rushed out of the portrait hole, Willow trailing behind.

"Sirius," she gasped, when he finally stopped. "What are we doing?"

Sirius motioned for her to be quiet before glancing around them, seeing no-one about; he withdrew the invisibility cloak from his pocket causing Willow to gasp.

"Is that a…?" she asked, staring at it.

Sirius nodded before flapping it out and flinging it around the both of them.

"It'll be easier to spy on James and Lily this way," he said.

From beside him, Willow giggled.

"Now I really feel like a spy," she whispered. "007 here I come!"

"What?" Sirius asked, not used to the muggle lingo she spouted.

Willow just shook her head.

"I'll explain later," she promised. "Come on," and with that she grabbed his hand and they set off for the direction of the kitchens.

Upon reaching the portrait of the fruit, Sirius reached out and carefully tickled the pear, it giggled and revealed a doorknob, pulling it, the two of them slipped silently into the kitchen to find James and Lily sat on some stools, a bowl of ice cream before them.

Tiptoeing carefully, Sirius and Willow snuck up on the unsuspecting couple.

"So Lily," James said casually, licking ice cream of his spoon. "You going to tell me why we're really here, because I'm guessing you didn't just want ice cream?" he raised an eyebrow at her and Lily blushed.

"Yes," she admitted, "well," she rubbed the back of her neck. "You see James, um, well, there's something I need to tell you, but I'm not entirely sure how to do it."

James smiled at her.

"Try taking a deep breath," he said. "I find that usually helps my nerves before a Quidditch game."

"Right," Lily said, she sucked in a lungful of air. "I love you!" she blurted before ducking her head, blushing.

For several moments, James sat there, stunned. Sirius had to stuff a fist in his mouth to stop himself from bursting out laughing.

"Really?" James' voice was hoarse as though it hadn't been used in ages.

Lily nodded, still not looking at him.

And then, it was like the sunshine breaking through the clouds, James smiled, growing so big it looked like his face would burst.

"Really?" he asked again, this time sounding giddy.

Lily nodded, again.

"Yes!" the word burst from James' lip and Sirius had to move him and Willow out of the way for James had jumped off his chair, causing it to fall backwards, and leapt across the table, taking Lily in his arms and pulling her into the most passionate embrace Sirius had ever seen. He wanted to look away out of politeness but found he couldn't.

Willow nudged him in the ribs.

"Stop staring, it's rude." She hissed.

Sirius glanced at her, to see that she too was transfixed on Lily and James.

"Like you can talk." He hissed back.

Willow responded by waving her hand at him to shut up. Rolling his eyes, Sirius turned back to the scene to find that James had risen for air and that Lily was nearly the same colour as her hair.

"I love you too." James whispered causing Lily to look up at him sharply.

A smile crossed her face as she saw the sincerity and she pulled him back for another kiss.

"This would be our cue to leave," Willow murmured.

Sirius nodded, agreeing whole heartedly and the two of them ducked out of the kitchen and made it to the second floor before their laughter got the better of them.

Pulling the cloak of them both, Sirius lent against the wall, taking deep breath to calm his laughter.

"I never thought, in a million years, that I'd ever witness Lily Evans willingly kiss James, let alone admit she loved him." He breathed.

Beside him, Willow shrugged and pushed her hair of her face.

"Love does the strangest things," she said. "I'm just glad Lily and James have found it."

Sirius nodded in agreement.

"So am I." He said. "Although I do wish he'd shut up going on about her."

Willow laughed at this and looked up at him.

"You're a good friend to put up with him, Sirius." She said.

Sirius shrugged, looking at her.

"He's like a brother." He admitted.

Willow smiled.

"I know."

And, somehow, Sirius rather thought she did.