A/N: I am so unbelievably sorry I haven't updated in so long! I had some things in my life I needed to take care of, but now that the dust has settled down, I can return to posting my stories! I'll be doing quite a few updates today, since the story is finished. I started writing this story last September and finished it in January, so although we have quite a ways to go here on Portkey, it is done and I'm in the process of writing a sequel, as well as a new H/Hr, a Bellatrix/Voldemort horror fic I won't be able to post here (nuts) and a Wormtail ficlet. Good times.
My ramblings aside, here is chapter 8!
Chapter Eight: Thickening Plans, Big Mistakes (remember that I suck at naming things!)
Sirius walked down the hall from the hospital wing. He'd woken up two days ago and was finally well enough to go
back to Gryffindor Tower. Remus had left the day before. James, and Lily had been with him almost constantly, and Peter
had popped in a few times, but never for very long. The hospital wing gave him the willies, he'd said.
Every time they'd come in, James and Lily had been holding hands. It was obvious to everyone they were finally an
item. It broke Sirius' heart to see them together. He knew he was supposed to be happy for his best friend but it
just wasn't possible. If it had been anyone but James, he would be fighting them for Lily's affections, but it
was James so what could he do?
He was so lost in his thoughts that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and ran into someone. He
looked up and was stunned to find that the emerald eyes he'd been thinking of were now standing right in front of
him. They both spoke at once.
"Umm--oh--Lily---I'm-uh."
"Sirius! Oh---I mean--hi--um."
They broke off and smiled rather embarrassed smiles at each other.
"You first," Sirius offered. Lily's face turned as red as her hair.
"Oh, I was just coming to see how you were feeling." she said quietly.
"Pretty good," he answered.
"Yeah, since you're . . . you know..."
"Out and about." Sirius finished.
"Yeah." Lily said. There followed an extremely uncomfortable silence that lasted about a second in reality
but a lifetime to Lily and Sirius. After forever, Sirius cleared his throat and spoke.
"Saw Malfoy in the hospital wing." Malfoy had been there since the day before with curtains around his bed so
no one could see him. Madam Pomfrey had been standing guard to make sure no one bothered him.
"Can he talk yet?" Lily asked.
"Nope," Sirius grinned. "And his second head looks just like Severus Snape!"
"WHAT?!" Lily cried laughing. "You're joking!"
"I kid you not." Sirius held up his right hand in oath to his truthfulness. Lily giggled.
"Autumn told me Spike shoved Snape's head in a toilet in one of the girl's lavatories, and he came out
covered in scales. He's too embarrassed to even go to the hospital wing." Lily informed him.
Sirius grinned and nodded his head in approval. Got to love those twins he thought to himself. The thought
faded, and Sirius found himself facing another of those long silences. Lily looked all over the hall as if the bare
walls were the most interesting thing on earth. Sirius found he couldn't stand it.
"So, you and James, huh? That's excellent," he said to the floor. THAT'S what you're talking
about? Why that? His mind screamed to him.
Hey, at least I'm talking he answered himself. He could feel Lily's eyes on him and didn't dare
look her in the face.
"Sirius--" she started. He cut her off.
"Hey, no worries, right? It's not like I told you I had feelings for you or anything," he said.
"Do you?" she asked in a quiet voice.
"Does it matter?" he responded bitterly. "You're with James now and that's that." He turned
away and started walking.
"Sirius, wait." Lily followed him and grabbed his hand. He felt the jolt of electricity Lily had noticed
before course through him and he turned to look in her eyes. They gazed at each other for a long moment, reading the
emotions in their eyes, and knew without speaking what one was feeling for the other.
Without a word, Sirius grasped Lily's hand tight, pulled her towards him, and kissed her the way he'd dreamed
about for so long. He wrapped his arms around her as if he would never let her go. And just as in his dreams, Lily
wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back.
It was even more amazing than Sirius could ever have dreamed. It was as if Lily was made for his arms. Every curve of her body fit perfectly against him. He tasted her soft lips over and over until he thought he would die from the ecstasy. His fingers clutched handfuls of her hair, caressed her back, her arms, anywhere he could. He couldn't get enough of Lily. He wanted it to be like this forever. Repercussions be damned.
*******
Electricity was running thru Lily's body. She knew this was horribly wrong but for the moment she didn't care. There was nothing in the world but Sirius and this kiss and this moment she wanted to last forever. She wound her arms around his neck and ran her fingers thru his hair. It was amazing . . . he was amazing. It was as if he knew exactly how she liked to be kissed, to be touched. Her head was spinning and she clung to Sirius as though her life depended on it. James Potter had claimed her mind and her soul, but her heart and her passion belonged to Sirius Black.
*******
He couldn't believe his eyes! There, for the entire world to see (if anyone happened to pass by) were Sirius Black and Lily Evans, wrapped in an embrace that could have stopped time itself. James Potter's girl. . . James Potter's best friend . . . it was almost too much. Eyes narrowed, he slunk back deeper into the shadows and watched.
*******
No. . . . her mind suddenly whispered to her. Lily broke away with a gasp and looked at Sirius with wide
eyes. Their arms were still around each other, their lips bruised, hair mussed, breathing heavy. Looking at her that
way made Sirius want her even more, and he read the same emotion in her eyes. He leaned towards her again.
"Lily," he said huskily. But Lily leaned back away from him.
"I . . . I can't . . . I just can't," she said shakily. Tears filled her eyes as she disentangled
herself from Sirius' arms and stepped away from him.
"Don't leave," he said. His arms felt empty without her. Sirius reached for her, desperate to hold her
again. She shook her head, the tears now beginning to fall.
"I have to," she whispered. With that, Lily turned and ran down the hall. He watched her go, her red hair
streaming out behind her, until she turned the corner and was gone from his sight. He watched the corner for a long
moment, halfway certain she would reappear at any moment. When Lily didn't return, he slammed his fist against the
wall in frustration.
"Damnit!" Sirius gasped in long slow breaths, trying to regain control of himself. His entire body was
shaking. He leaned forward and pressed his head against the cool stone of the wall. Turning so he faced outwards, he
gazed at the ceiling and slid trembling down the wall to the cold floor. He closed his eyes in frustration, his mind
completely focused on what had just happened. He didn't see a scaly-faced Severus Snape step out from his hiding
place in the shadows and didn't hear him walk away.
**********************
Severus quickly walked down to the depths of the school, gave the password, and walked into the Slytherin common
room. Bellatrix & Calista were sitting on one of the black leather sofas. He crossed to them and sat next to
Calista.
"Where are the others?" he asked her.
"Standing guard over Malfoy," she answered.
"Making sure those damned twins don't get a hold of him," Bellatrix added. Her head twitched to the right
as she spoke and Severus saw her fingers clench and unclench. He self-consciously picked at the scales on his face and
silently agreed with her. He looked to Calista and saw her cold eyes boring into his own.
"What?" he asked her.
"You tell me," Calista said in her scratchy voice. Her bone thin hand reached up and brushed a wisp of her
lank hair away from her face. Calista always managed to look severely malnourished, even though Severus knew she was
nothing of the sort. "You came in here looking as though Christmas had come around for a second whirl."
Severus grinned. Malnourished looking and psychic, that was Calista. He knew many who were more malicious, but few who
were as twisted as she is. "I know exactly how to get them all back for this. No wands, no magic, no violence . .
. from us, anyways. All we have to do is tell the truth for a change."
Bella looked stunned. "We're supposed to do what now?!"
A slow smile spread across Calista's thin face. She looked Severus in the eyes and nodded. "So tell us the
news already," she said. "I was never one for suspense anyway."
Severus nodded and gestured to the girls to lean in. He spoke in a quiet voice so as not to be overheard.
"You'll never guess who I saw. . ."
****************
An hour or so later, Remus was walking through the halls on a wild Sirius hunt. Sirius, whose appetite was legend,
had not shown up for dinner. This being the first time in 7 years such an event had occurred, James, Remus, Lily,
Peter, Autumn, Spike, and Sara had decided to split up and look for him.
Remus had noticed Lily's subdued manner all through dinner and though he hadn't had the chance to talk to her
yet, he had a pretty shrewd idea of what was bothering her.
He glanced out one of the tall windows and gazed at the sky. He had been unconscious during the full moon and no one
had seen him transform, thanks to Madam Pomfrey. Only 20 more nights until full moon. It may seem like a long time to
anyone else, but to Remus Lupin those twenty days would be gone in a flash. They always were. Merlin give me
strength. Sirius and James might enjoy full moon as a good romp, but for him they were experiences of pain beyond
pain. It was as though his body was being torn in half, the hair sprouting from every pore felt like a thousand knives
stabbing his body. When his fingers turned into claws it felt like they were being broken over and over again. Peter
had once told him what he looked like right before the transformation: twitching and jerking as though he was having
convulsions.
Nobody ever said turning into a werewolf was fun, he thought bitterly.
Remus found himself headed toward the seldom-used South Tower. There was no way Sirius could be there, no one ever went
this way unless they had to. Couldn't hurt to check, right? he figured. Remus shrugged, and then pulled
out his wand just in case. He was much more alert after being attacked, so he thought.
As he passed a statue of Urg the Unclean, a bony hand reached out and grabbed the hem of Remus' robes. He found
himself being pulled into a narrow corridor behind the statue. He yanked his robes out of the hand's grasp,
straightened up and met the eyes of the hand's owner. When Remus spoke, his voice was very un-Remus like, cold and
harsh.
"What do you want?"