Skipping Quidditch

"Hey, have you seen Captain Potter?" Arnold Palmer, Beater for the Gryffindor quidditch team entered through Sirius' bedroom door, asking for Sirius' absent best friend.

"He's not at quidditch practice?" Sirius and another roommate, Peter, asked simultaneously in surprise.

"No, he never made it out of the Great Hall." Arnold said agitatedly.

This was the first indication to Sirius that something was wrong with James. James had not once missed quidditch practice, not even in third year when he had the flu. Sirius had watched James leave their dorm room sniffling with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders—dead set on showing up to practice even if it killed him. James not showing up to quidditch practice was more than weird—it was unnerving.

"Maybe you just missed him?" Sirius proposed.

Arnold shook his head; "Practice started thirty minutes ago," he said, "I saw him at dinner but not after."

"Maybe he's at the Hospital Wing?" Peter suggested.

"Why was he sick?" Arnold questioned in confusion, "He seemed fine at dinner."

Peter and Sirius exchanged a look. It wasn't like James to skip quidditch to visit Remus in the Hospital Wing but maybe he'd felt bad for their werewolf roommate and skipped out to see how Remus was feeling after a particularly hard full moon. James was considerate like that but it was still hard for Sirius to imagine James actually skipping out on quidditch practice when he already knew Remus was fine.

"Maybe he's talking to the Head Girl," Arnold mused, "I thought I saw them talking at dinner."

Sirius snorted humorlessly, "Yeah but James wouldn't skip quidditch to talk to Lily about school."

"Well if you find him, tell him I'd like to talk." Arnold said with a wave as he walked out the door.

"Weird," Peter said once Arnold had left. "I saw James leave the Hall to go to practice."

"Really weird," Sirius agreed with Peter, also having seen James leave the Great Hall.

Later James appeared, in his quidditch gear, looking quite frazzled. He was slightly flushed and his clothes were rumpled like he'd gone flying to Africa and back.

"Hey, Arnold was looking for you." Sirius told James, gauging James' weird behavior.

"I'll find him later." James said, voice uneven.

"How was Remus?" Peter asked.

"Fine." He said, almost as if he was sleepwalking.

Peter and Sirius watched in concern as he disappeared into the loo. When the door closed, Peter turned to face Sirius with a curious look. Sirius shrugged to show Peter that he was confused as well before pushing himself off his mattress to go knock on the loo door.

"Prongs?" Sirius called through the wooden door, "You alright?"

"Yeah," James' voice was struggling to remain impassive, "Sorry, I'll be out in a few."

Sirius wrinkled his nose, realizing that James was acting really weird. Sirius went to sit back down on his bed, keeping his eyes trained on the loo. When James came back into the dorm, he was back to his normal talkative self. He jumped onto his bed and began sketching, listening to his radio report a play-by-play of a professional Quidditch match. Sirius marked the weird behavior as just catching James at an off moment, but he still felt like something was wrong. James had never missed a Quidditch practice before so what had him starting now?

The next day was when Sirius questioned if something really was wrong with James when Lily Evans approached Sirius with a nervous look about her normal confident persona.

"Hey, have you seen James anywhere Sirius?"

Sirius looked over his magazine to see her bright green eyes staring at him expectantly. Sirius grinned casually and crossed his legs over the sofa arm. Lily's red hair was falling in front of her pretty face and she was wringing her hands—probably over whatever she needed to talk to James about. Sirius' grey eyes looked to his left where James had been sitting, sketching, just fifteen minutes before. Sirius' lips turned downwards, astounded that James had vanished without saying a word. His sketching materials were resting untouched on the wooden table beside his abandoned chair.

"He was here," Sirius said searchingly, turning his eyes back on Lily who blew her red hair from her eyes relentlessly, "But he seems to have disappeared. Check upstairs?"

"I did but the only one there was Peter and he told me James was with you..."

"He could be with Remus." Sirius reminded Lily.

"Remus was sleeping upstairs," Lily contested.

"Well then I'm out of answers," Sirius said, unhelpfully.

"You need to keep a tighter leash on him," Lily said, disappointed in his lack of luster for her worries.

Sirius barked a laugh, Lily not knowing how ironic her words were, "Yeah well, James has too big a head to wrap a leash around."

"God," she complained next, falling into the spot next to Sirius dejectedly, "He's going to kill me. He's been acting weird all day."

"Has he?" Sirius replied casually, "I haven't noticed anything."

In fact, as far as Sirius was concerned, the only time James had acted weird was when he skipped Quidditch practice the night before, but James had been his typical dorky self all day.

"I think he's avoiding me," Lily said irritably, placing her face in her hands.

Sirius grinned boldly, "Can't say I blame him."

Lily pinched Sirius in the side and Sirius laughed, smacking her with his magazine before saying sympathetically, "Don't worry Evans, he's probably just run off to the loo."

Lily crossed her arms like a child who had been put in time out, "Well it feels like he's been going to the loo a lot today whenever I show up."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Probably because anytime you try to talk its about boring shite like rounds on the third floor and Head Boy obligations."

"I talk to him about more than repetitive school junk, Sirius." Lily reasoned, "You act as if I'm some stuffy boring witch."

"Mainly because you are a stuffy boring witch."

Lily sighed and threw back her hair proudly as she stood up. "If you see your boyfriend anytime soon, ask him to find me."

"Which boyfriend?" Sirius shouted jokingly after Lily's retreating back.

Lily hollered back just as lightheartedly despite her brazen attitude, "The gawky one."

"Ah, Remus then!"

"James please," Lily turned, her hand on the bannister to the girls' staircase, "Please send James my way."

"Ah," Sirius winked, "That boyfriend."

"Just tell him I'm wanting to talk to him," Lily finally begged, slowly walking up the steps, almost running backwards into three third years.

"Fine, but only because you asked nicely," Sirius gave in and she beamed.

"Thanks Sirius!"

Sirius went back to his magazine, not at all concerned about James. There was no reason to worry, despite Lily's worries; James was a creature of habit. One random disappearance didn't concern Sirius in the slightest, even if he had apparently missed Quidditch the day before. At least that's what Sirius told himself so that he wouldn't start wondering what had gotten into his best friend. Sirius' eyes trained on the parchment that James had been sketching on. He could see a clear outline of eyes hiding behind a curtain of hair.

Sirius pushed the thoughts from his mind and fell asleep watching the fire crackle in the fireplace. Later on at dinner, James reappeared, wearing his heavy cloak. James' hair was littered with white snow, telling Sirius that James had gone for a walk on the school grounds. James fell into an empty seat, chewing his food and looking over at Sirius with a mouthful of beef.

Sirius barely flicked his eyes up from his plate before saying, "Evans was looking for you."

"I know," James said curtly. "I ran into her on my way back from Hagrid's complaining about you not keeping a tight leash on me."

"What'd she want?" Sirius asked as James stuffed the remainder of the beef into his mouth.

James finished chewing before replying slightly off key, "We spoke about rounds."

"I told her she was stuffy and boring." Sirius said, flipping his vegetables over on his plate.

James chuckled as he pulled pumpkin juice towards him, "I don't know if I'd ever use the words stuffy or boring to ever describe that girl, to be quite honest."

All in all, it was a standard night hanging out by the fireplace after dinner. Remus and Peter joined them and they talked over the sound of someone's handheld radio playing a new Wicked Wizards set. James sketched next to a sleeping Peter while Sirius and Remus battled over a game of Wizards Chess.

Sirius didn't start becoming super concerned about James until the morning of October 31st. Sirius was used to the Halloween tradition where he and James would get out of bed early and set explosives loose in the Gryffindor dormitory. They'd managed to get away with it for the last seven years and weren't planning on stopping anytime soon, even if James had gotten Head Boy. Head Boys were supposed to follow school rules and not set off fireworks, but Sirius knew that even if James had turned into a Head Shmuck…he wasn't a total shmuck and would help Sirius set off the best Halloween fireworks show Gryffindor Tower had ever seen.

Sirius rolled out of bed, landing on his knees so he could reach under the bed to grab all thirty-five firecrackers stuffed inside a brown paper bag. Peter and Sirius had gotten the fireworks the night before from Albert Stevens in Ravenclaw for a hefty sickle, but it would be worth it in the end. Sirius had already magically charmed them to explode into scary shapes, bent on making the first years cry a bit and maybe even smoking the eyebrows of the portraits. It was going to be a fantastic day, nothing could go wrong (feasibly) because James was likely about to roll out of bed as well, bright and ready to set fire to their world.

Of course, when Sirius turned to face James' bed, he had to blink twice just to make sure he wasn't imagining the vacant bedspread. After his second intense blink it was very obvious to Sirius that something was very, very, really, awfully wrong.

First of all, the bed was made—something that rarely happened unless the house elves came in. James was the messiest out of the four of the Gryffindor boys. Normally there were quills scattered about his bed from late night sketching of Quidditch plays or Marauders Map imaginings. Normally his robes were being used as a spare blanket, despite the warm quilt Euphemia knitted him. The quilt was normally rumpled at the edge of the bed but it was currently laying flat against the mattress.

Second of all, James Potter was not a morning person. It took three alarms, a cup of black coffee, a cup of tea, and one of the other boys' alarms to get the bloke out of bed by eight in the morning. Half the time Sirius had to chuck his shoes at the bugger to get his scrawny ass out of bed in time for first lecture. Right now though, James was the first out of bed and awake so early he'd had time to make his bed.

"What the fuck..." Sirius muttered to himself, disturbed.

Sirius' eyes flickered over to his friend Remus Lupin's bed. Remus was still asleep, half out of his sheets, one arm slung over his eyes. Sirius picked up the closest sock to his bed, a red and gold sock James used for Quidditch practice. Sirius tossed it at Remus, the sock landing over Remus' long nose. In almost an immediate reaction, Remus made a strangled noise and shot up, ripping the sock from his nose like it was made of toxic waste.

"What?" Remus gave a strangled cry, looking sleepily around the room only to find Sirius on the floor.

"Morning," Sirius said casually, as if he hadn't just chucked a dirty sock at his roommate.

"Do you want me to suffocate on Prongs' quidditch socks?" Remus exclaimed irritably to Sirius.

"It was the closest thing I found that wasn't sharp."

"For fucks sake, Padfoot, why James' bloody quidditch socks?" Remus moaned, "Why couldn't you use a pillow?"

"I was hoping you'd get his unique scent."

"To do what with?" Remus placed a hand on his forehead.

"Track him," Sirius replied smoothly, "Use those werewolf senses."

Remus grumbled at the cracked werewolf joke as he tore off his covers to glare at Sirius, "Why the hell do you want me to sniff out our roommate?"

Sirius made a dramatic gesture at James' empty mattress, "I've lost him."

"He's not a dog, Sirius." Remus replied, rubbing his eyes before shooting a look at the rumpled bed across from his, "Oy! Wormy. You seen James?"
There was a muffled reply, which was hard to distinguish, from their friend Peter who was using his pillow to block the light from the windows, "He left earlier."

Remus glanced back at Sirius with raised eyebrows, "There you have it, Padfoot, he left earlier."

"But where'd he go?"

"I don't bloody know," Remus replied as he pulled on his trunks, "Probably to the Quidditch Pitch or something."

Sirius hadn't considered that. It was almost time for the first big game of the season and James was captain of the Quidditch team. It wouldn't be totally unreasonable of James to wake up at the crack of dawn for Quidditch. It was the only plausible explanation really, since James wouldn't get up for anything else on Earth. Not even his mother.

"I guess."

Sirius sighed his defeat. Remus didn't look disturbed in the slightest by James' disappearance. Moodily, Sirius shoved the fireworks into his bag for later, thinking maybe they could create pandemonium during lunch. The day wasn't over; James and Sirius still had plenty of time for fireworks and mayhem. Sirius was open for mischief at any point in the day as long as he got to set off a few explosives.

As the seventh year Gryffindor boys made their way out of the portrait hole after getting dressed for classes, Sirius speculated that he'd probably see James at breakfast anyways. James would 100% never miss a chance to eat his body weight in breakfast food. Sirius could always count on James' hearty appetite to carry his arse away from the Quidditch pitch and towards Sirius and the chance to set off over thirty explosives. In fact, Sirius was so confident of James' appetite that he left a space for James on the end of the table when they all sat down.

"Pass the jam would you Wormtail?" Sirius said in a sprightly voice to Peter, who shoved the jar Sirius' way without a look up from his own plate of waffles.

Sirius spread the jam on his toast, his eyes periodically flickering to the double doors, waiting for James to come stumbling through them with his Quidditch gear on. Fifteen minutes passed and still, James was missing in action. Sirius was starting to get impatient.

"If you stab your toast any harder it's going to bleed." Remus hadn't even glanced over the paper he was reading; he could just sense Sirius was on edge.

"James would never miss breakfast." Sirius said, "He hates going to class on an empty stomach."

Before Sirius could say anymore on the subject, the boy in question walked through the double doors and Sirius relaxed. James' black hair was swept to one side, like the wind had only gone in one direction when he'd been flying. He was wearing his normal school clothes but they appeared a little disheveled. Sirius surmised that James must've showered before coming to breakfast. James fell next to Sirius on the bench and grabbed a pancake before saying hello with his mouth full of food.

"You were up early," Sirius said.

James nodded and replied through his chewing, "I had to meet Lily."

Sirius scowled, "Does she hate you? Why so early?"

James rolled his eyes and grinned toothily at Sirius, "She has Advanced Potions on Friday mornings so I had to get up earlier than normal to see her."

Sirius shrugged and took his own mouthful of food, chewing thoughtfully. Advanced Potions was a two-hour class, so it made sense that if James needed to talk to his Head Girl, he'd have to get up earlier. Even still, Sirius knew that if Lily really had wanted to talk to James she'd have just invited herself by their dorm whenever she wanted. Lily wasn't a shy girl and easily made herself comfortable wherever she found herself.

In fact, it had been Lily wondering where James was when he'd disappeared the week before while they were hanging out in the Gryffindor Commons.

But why would James lie about needing to see Lily?
Of course, James wasn't much of a liar. When he did lie, there was an immediate reaction of red ears to counteract the dishonesty and James certainly didn't have red ears as he bit into another pancake. Sirius just had to trust that whatever it was that had gotten James out of bed at the crack of dawn, it had been for a good reason.

By later that afternoon, the weird morning had been pushed to the back of Sirius' mind. James and Sirius set the fireworks off atop the Astronomy tower with Remus and Peter in tow. One of the fireworks got caught in the wind and flew against one of the tower windows, shattering it to smithereens. James laughed alongside Sirius as the glass lit up under the fire, glowing green, red, and blue.

But, then a week passed and James was acting peculiar.

James was still getting up at ungodly hours in the morning.

He was still arriving to breakfast late.

According to Sirius' third year Beater spies, James was even arriving to quidditch practice late and James was never late for quidditch practice.

When Sirius told Remus, Remus shrugged it off saying that James was probably stretching himself thin between Quidditch, Head Boy, and social pressures. Sirius tried to approach Lily and ask her if she still thought James was acting weird but, funnily enough, she was also busy, most often running around with James. Sirius only saw her in passing and he couldn't talk to anyone but Remus who seemed unconcerned.

"But late to Quidditch, Remus!" Sirius explored the problems with Remus over lunch one day after James had disappeared right after Transfiguration, "He would skin anyone on the team alive if they were late for Quidditch."

"You're overthinking this Sirius," Peter said from Sirius' left, "James is just busy."

Before Sirius could offer a new argument (James had started wearing new aftershave that Sirius had found in their loo by the mirror) an arm was strung around Sirius' shoulders spiritedly and someone waved golden streamers in front of his face. Sirius spit a gold strand from his mouth and turned in his seat to see who was intruding on their conference.

Lily grinned back at him, her green eyes practically bursting with enthusiasm. Sirius pushed the ribbons away from his face as Lily placed herself directly between Sirius and Remus. Her red hair tumbled over her right shoulder, blocking Remus' quirked eyebrow in Sirius' direction.

"Hullo boys." She placed her cheery tassels on the table, partially covering Sirius' potatoes, "Ready for the game today?"

"Impeccable timing, Lily," Sirius said, eyeing her scarlet and gold jersey with disdain, "Would you please tell Remus that James has been acting odd the past few weeks?"

She replied slightly eagerly, a slight quirk of her head causing her to appear doe-eyed, "He's seemed normal to me Sirius."

"You noticed he was disappearing." Sirius reminded her, "And you were worried he was avoiding you."

"Oh that." She laughed awkwardly, "I talked to him, and it was a simple misunderstanding."

"So you don't think he's still acting weird?"

"Nope." She counted off with her fingers, "He's been complaining about the Slytherin's left defense. He's trying to snog me at every chance. He's still making rude jokes about Angus Merkle's nose job even though Angus had to get it because he broke it in the match with the Farmouth Falcons."

"Well yeah," Sirius huffed, "That stuff's normal, but haven't you noticed he's disappearing?"

Lily pulled a face at Sirius; "I've only ever seen him with you or with me."

"But he's stopped eating breakfast with me and I don't think I've ever seen him willingly skip Quidditch or be late—"

"What are you?" she snorted, "His psychologist?"

"Sirius doesn't know what that is Lily," Remus warned Lily over his bowl of soup.

"It's a Muggle healer who gives disturbed people therapy sessions," Lily explained to Sirius before remaining steadfast in her defense of James. "I haven't noticed anything off about him."

Sirius pushed his potatoes around his plate, "Well, I don't know why I would've expected you to notice anything, I guess."

Lily narrowed her eyes in dare, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Here we go," Peter mumbled to Remus under his breath.

"It means that you don't know him as well as I do," Sirius told Lily, who took immediate offense.
"Of course I bloody well know him." Lily huffed, her cheeks going red; "We've both known James for the exact same amount of time, Sirius."

"You didn't even like him for the better half of that time though."

"Of course I liked him," Lily scoffed, "I just couldn't let him know I liked him or his head would've gotten larger than it already is but we're really close now…in fact…"

Sirius interrupted doubtfully, "You probably don't even know his middle name."

Lily grabbed her golden tassels and stood up quickly, irritated by Sirius' contests for some odd reason. Normally she enjoyed jesting with Sirius and competing in the battle of wits. It was one of Sirius' favorite pastimes with Lily. Sirius noted she was wearing Muggle jeans instead of her school skirt, something she rarely did because James had made it clear he couldn't keep himself amicable around her when she wore them. Lily tucked the golden tassels into her front pocket so she could cross her arms effectively at Sirius.

"His middle name is Fleamont."

Lily turned on her heel and made her way out of the Great Hall alone. Remus glanced at Sirius who was staring after Lily's retreating form. Sirius didn't care that Lily thought James was acting normal. He knew James like he knew the back of his hand…something was going on.

"Satisfied?" Remus asked Sirius.

"Never." Sirius replied, "James is hiding something from us, no matter what Lily thinks."

"What would he be hiding?" Peter questioned, "He tells us everything."

"He's not eating. He's not sleeping. He's vanishing." Sirius pointed out, "He's got to be dying—or worse."

"What could be worse than dying?" Peter grunted.

"He could be under the Cruciatus curse," Sirius said worriedly, "And be plotting how to—"

"Alright, that's enough," Remus rolled his eyes as he stood up, "You're just being paranoid now and it's dumb. We need to go to the game."

Sirius grumbled but followed Remus and Peter out to the Quidditch pitch. Sirius really wanted to know what had James sneaking out and skipping meals and Quidditch. James had never kept a secret from Sirius and it was driving Sirius mad to figure out what the deal was.

The Quidditch game was amazing of course. James had the crowd eating out of his hands the entire time. In front of Sirius, Evans and her mates were screaming bloody murder for every spectacular throw of the quaffle. Sirius tried to enjoy the game, but he struggled to watch and analyze James' behavior. He was acting normal atop his broomstick, shouting commands to his players as he directed Gryffindor to a win.

Maybe Remus was right, and Sirius was just overreacting. Merlin knew, James always liked to say Sirius pretended to play it cool but was actually a huge distrustful dick half the time. Maybe James wasn't hiding anything and Lily had just gotten into Sirius' head. Lily didn't seem concerned now though because when the Gryffindor seeker caught the snitch Lily turned in her seat and threw her arms around Remus and Peter as they jumped up and down screaming, "James did it! We won! He did it!"

The ear-piercing cheers continued into the Gryffindor common room. Everyone was celebrating Gryffindor's victory over Slytherin, even the other houses. The common room was packed, nowhere safe from partying teens. The music was so loud everyone had to shout at each other. People were making out on the sofas while James and Sirius set off spare firecrackers from Halloween. Todd and Peter snuck in firewhisky, which Lily and James both turned a blind eye to.

Sirius and James did at least four shots in thirty minutes and everything was normal—until it wasn't.

Sirius was in the middle of a card game at the table by the fireplace. James had been directly behind Sirius most of the game, shouting directions enthusiastically. It was normal for James to go off and get another drink, maybe talk to his teammates about the game. About a half hour after he'd left and the card game had ended, Sirius looked around the common room to see James had disappeared.

Sirius punched Peter's arm, "Where'd James go?"

Peter looked around the common room, stuffed to the last corner, and shrugged, "Dunno, he mentioned getting punch with Lily."

Remus looked up from his bottle, "Must be a long line at the punch."

Sirius spotted James' seeker Thomas Gunn sitting down beside Marissa Roberts by the fire and shouted in his direction, "Gunn! Where's James?"

Gunn shot his thumb towards the bookcases, "Saw him by the radio."

Sirius rolled his eyes, annoyed by the lack of answers from the unhelpful eyes. Sirius got up and stretched, looking around with his own eyes. The Gryffindor common room was so full that students were standing, pushing, and dancing on top of each other. In the farthest corner by the windows, people were dancing to the radio, cranked up even louder than it had been when the party started. Sirius pushed through the crowd towards the table laden with drinks and food. James was at least a head taller than half the students at Hogwarts and should've been easy to spot with his dark black hair. Sirius tied his own dark hair up into a bun, grey eyes scanning the crowd for his best friend. When he got to the punch table he nudged a fifth year prefect from Hufflepuff who knew James.

"Seen James Potter?" he asked, eyes still searching the crowds.

The Hufflepuff shrugged, "He was talking to some of the Slug Club kids earlier."

"Slug Club?" Sirius made a face, "Why?"

Hufflepuff's friend replied, "Because the girls in it are hot?"

Sirius jeered, "James could do better than any of those losers."

Lily was one of those losers and would've punched Sirius if she'd heard him. Unfortunately for Sirius, Lily was not around and he wondered if she'd left the party. He'd noticed she'd knocked back quite a few shots herself. If anyone could attract a drunk James Potter it was a drunk Lily Evans. They both liked to argue with each other and their drunken selves probably wouldn't be able to resist arguing over the number of owls in the owlery.

Sirius crossed his arms and leaned against the table, letting his grey eyes search the crowd.
James reappeared two hours later, grinning like a loon as he wrapped an arm around Sirius' shoulder. Sirius quirked an eyebrow, noting that James looked a little more rumpled than he'd been when he'd vanished. James' hair was standing in every direction, only getting worse when James ran his fingers through the strands zealously.

"Can you believe how many people are crammed in here?" he shouted to Remus, "McGonagall's gonna have a conniption!"

"You and Lily will get your arses chewed out." Remus grinned back, raising his glass at James in cheers.

James half turned to wink at Sirius, "You know what would make this better?"

"Not quite?" Sirius couldn't help but laugh at James, who looked exuberant.

"Another shot of firewhisky!" James called boisterously and a few students cheered.

It took three more hours, but McGonagall eventually made it into the common room shouting for the Head Boy and Head Girl. Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all laughing uncontrollably as James stumbled through the crowd with a Gryffindor tie secured to his forehead. Lily Evans made her way across the room with a scarlet face, knocking shoulders with James as they went to stand before McGonagall. Patrick Vlatby was busy behind a row of students, hiding the alcohol in the bookshelves. McGonagall's sharp eyes looked around the room cuttingly and Sirius knew the party had officially come to an end.

"You will all be in your rooms and respective dormitories in less than five minutes."

Remus grabbed Sirius' elbow and Peter's wrist, dragging them towards the staircase. It was a hassle trying to get to the stairs though, because everyone was struggling to get away before McGonagall started handing out detentions. Sirius looked back at the last minute to see Lily and James following McGonagall towards the portrait hole shamefacedly.

"They're both dead," Remus muttered. "McGonagall hates parties."

"It's fine," Sirius said.

Peter countered, "Yeah, as long as she doesn't realize James is wasted."

"Lily will cover for him," Remus replied back confidently.

"You think?" Peter questioned, as he pushed opened their door slightly.

"She has to," Remus replied with a knowing smile.

"Why?" Sirius asked.

"Because she's wasted too."

Sirius laughed out loud and they all imagined how the two Head students were going to talk themselves out of the hole they'd dug themselves into. Sirius was too busy making fun of James when he reappeared in their dorm room an hour later to register that, slightly beside James' left ear, there was a noticeable purple bruise on his neck.

He could've gotten it from Quidditch, it was possible, but Sirius wondered when he saw it the next morning…

Sirius kept James in his sights the next week and a half but nothing seemed off. No new girls were at James' side and if there had been, someone would've known. Sirius had Peter on lookout as well (Remus refused to spy on James) and nothing was off. The only girls James was seen with were Lily and Alissa Thompson who was dating Sirius' brother Regulus.

Besides, Lily and James both spent so much time together currently because they were both in detention, cleaning up the third floor classrooms as punishment for allowing a party to go on so late in the Gryffindor common room. Sirius was often in their company, too bored to do anything else but hang out with his best mate and Lily. Sirius generally liked Lily's company anyways. Lily kept life interesting; she spent most of her time trying to make James look like an idiot—something Sirius respected.

Late one Friday night she was writing school notes on a chalkboard, her sleeves rolled up to keep the chalk from tarnishing her blouse. James and Sirius were sitting on one of the desks eating some oranges that Sirius nicked from the kitchens. James was tossing bits of the orange peel at her, purposely working her up. After the fifth bit of orange peel made it's way down her shirt she glared at James with a look that could silence any man.

"Do you want me to hex you?" she asked James with narrowed eyes.

"Nope." James gave her a stupid grin before throwing more pieces of orange at her again.

Lily grabbed a spare piece of chalk from the board and tossed it at James who laughed and ducked. The chalk flew past Sirius' left ear and fell to the floor. Sirius kicked his legs up onto the desk across from him as the entertainment began. Lily walked forwards, her hands stretched out to choke James. James grabbed her wrists, holding her at bay, laughing at her narrowed green eyes.

"You're cute when you're mad, Evans."

"I'm gonna murder you, Potter."

Sirius raised his eyebrows as she threw her arms around his neck and tried wrestling him to the floor. James was awkwardly trying to unravel her grip to no avail; Lily was determined and a determined Lily meant progress. She buried her face into James' chest, struggling to get him to give into her fighting.

"Sirius!" James laughed under her control, "Help!?"

"Nah mate," Sirius popped a bit of orange into his mouth, "You got yourself into this mess."

James' orange fell to the floor and rolled away as Lily continued wrestling James. In order to get the upper hand, James stood up off the desk he'd been leaning on and used his long arms to wrap around Lily's waist, pulling her into his frame, closer than before. Lily and James were laughing, rebellious as their legs tangled together.

Sirius watched, eating his orange, wondering how he ever became friends with two nerds who spent more time quarrelling with each other than talking like normal human beings. When Lily and James noticed him staring at their antics with raised eyebrows, Lily stopped struggling against James' hold. James placed his chin on her head, winking at Sirius.

"What?" Lily asked Sirius, tense under his relaxed state.

"Nothing." Sirius shrugged, "You two are just the biggest dorks I've ever known."

"I'm not a dork." James argued immediately.

Lily's eyes rolled up to gawk at James, "You collect model brooms.'

"That's cool!" James argued, "At least I'm not in Slug Club."

"It's good for Graduation!"

"It's a club for stuck up arses!"

Lily turned so she could press her finger into James' chest, "You're the only stuck up arse I see around here!"

"And yet you still try to seduce me," James said cockily.

Sirius barked a laugh as Lily grumbled under her breath. James always liked to torment Lily about his feelings for her. It used to be a way for James to tease Lily but now he did it to simply to annoy her. Lily flicked James' nose with her fingers before muttering something rude that would've made any first year cover their ears. Sirius couldn't tell if Lily and James were seriously fighting or just messing with each other. Half the time, the line was blurred.

James leaned down so his face was inches from Lily's; issuing his challenge, "What was that Evans?"

"You heard me, Potter." Lily stood her ground, waiting for him to cross the line.

Sirius interrupted their arguments, "Stop fighting with him Lily, he's getting hard."

"Shove off Sirius," they both said, eyes not leaving each other, and Sirius smirked.

Lily pulled herself from James' grasp and went back to the chalkboard, continuing her studying with pursed lips and a slightly flushed face. James fell back into his stance beside Sirius who had no idea how two people like Lily and James had ever become such good friends.

"At Hogsmeade this weekend you owe me a drink," Lily said aloud.

"Who?" Sirius questioned, "me?"

"No," Lily nodded her head in James' direction, "The other one."

James quirked a playful eyebrow at her, "How about another row of firewhiskey shots?"

Sirius didn't understand the challenging smirk on her face when she replied, "Only if you do them with me."

Sirius was looking forward to going to Hogsmeade over the weekend with James, Remus, and Peter. They'd needed to stock up on prank wands and chocolate frogs again. Sirius didn't know when Lily and James would have time for drinks together since Hogsmeade days were always busy for the Gryffindor boys.

"Ah shite," James whispered beside Sirius, "I gotta go, Quidditch started five minutes ago."

"Late again?" Sirius said in wonder, glancing at his own watch.

"Again?" James questioned as he gathered his bag from the floor and playfully yanked on Lily's ponytail.

"Andrew Huckabee said you were late last week too." Sirius shrugged, "Just weird for you to be late to Quidditch."

Lily turned her cheek, turning so her back was against the board and her face was clear for James to see her annoyed look. James knocked Sirius' shoulder playfully before turning to Lily who was watching them, leaning her back up against the chalkboard.

"There are more important things in life than Quidditch," James said walking backwards out of the classroom as he winked haughtily at Lily.

At the chalkboard, Lily's mouth had dropped open. Sirius couldn't believe what he'd just heard either. They both were thunderstruck by James' departure.

Sirius felt slightly nauseous, "Evans," he croaked, "I think he's dying."

"Some things are more important than Quidditch?" She was clutching the chalk to her chest and staring at Sirius wonderingly, as if she felt as if she'd imagined the words fall from James' lips.

"He never puts anything ahead of Quidditch," Sirius said in devastation. "What the Hell is happening? Next thing I know he's going to join the Slug Club!"

Lily only smirked as she turned back to her notes. "Fancy that," she said wonderingly.

Sirius leaned back on the desk, "I think he's been possessed by a ghost."

"Calm down Sirius," Lily wasn't facing him; she was too busy writing her notes on the board, "He hasn't been possessed and he's not joining Slug Club."

"How can you be so sure?" Sirius asked Lily, "He was talking to the losers at the Quidditch party!"

"James was with me at the party," Lily said pointedly, shooting Sirius a death glare over her shoulder.

"I repeat," Sirius said with a leer, "He was talking to the losers at the Quidditch party."

Lily whipped around, tossing her chalk at him vehemently, "I can't believe you sometimes!"

Sirius framed his face with his hands, "I have that effect on most people."

Lily stared at him with pursed lips, coldly, before saying angrily, "I hope all your hair falls out and you're bald by the time you're twenty."

"You take that back, Evans." He chucked an orange peel at her, and she tried hitting it away with her palm. "You take it back or I'll get you a shitty Christmas gift."

"Fine," she admitted when he launched another peel at her, "I'll take it back, but only if you buy me new pearl earrings for Christmas."

"Why so specific?" Sirius asked.

Lily grinned, "Because I'm too poor to buy the ones at Madame Misfits."

"James is the rich one, not me," Sirius reminded Lily. "I only have the gold my Uncle left me."

Lily hummed, "Damn, I guess I'll have to seduce James into buying me some jewelry."

"Oh, so you're a gold digger..." Sirius said as she turned back to continue writing.

"I mean," Lily laughed, "A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do for her pearl earrings."

Sirius stared at the orange peels on the floor by Lily's feet, "You have a lot of faith in James' willingness to buy you expensive shite."

Sirius was surprised when Lily turned again to arch her brow at him suggestively, "Depends on his willingness to snog me…"

Sirius didn't have the heart to tell Lily that James was going to be too busy to buy her pretty pearl earrings after a quick snog she probably would never actually hand out. Sirius had a long list of things for the Gryffindor boys to go at Hogsmeade and there was no room for jewelry shopping or snogging Lily Evans.

The actual morning of the Hogsmeade trip, James was missing in action. He wasn't at breakfast. He wasn't at the carriages that took the students to the village outside of the school. He hadn't been seen by a soul at Hogwarts and Sirius was convinced that James had died.

Needless to say, Sirius was pissed.

"Where the Hell is he?" Sirius whined to Remus on the Main Road, "We always go to Hogsmeade together."

"I can't believe he ditched us," Peter also seemed upset thankfully so Sirius' dramatics weren't entirely out of line. "I didn't even hear him get up this morning."

"Come to think of it..." Remus muttered, also seeming perplexed, "Did anyone see him come in last night?"

"No."

"Nope."

All the boys looked at each other for answers but had none to give. They were all stumped.

"He's ditched us." Sirius whined, "Probably out with some frumpy blonde from Ravenclaw."

Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius' dramatics, "James doesn't even like blondes."

"He did snog Amelia Roselle last summer at that one party…" Peter countered; reminding them that James wasn't against all blondes.

Sirius' nose wrinkled, "You think he's cheating on me with her?"

"I wish James were here just so you'd shut up," Remus said faintly.

"Moony." Sirius placed a hand on his heart, "Our best friend is ditching us for a girl, you should feel betrayed!"

Peter placed a hand on Sirius' shoulder, "We don't know that he's actually with a girl."

Sirius' eyes searched the snowy streets of Hogsmeade in despair. "He's probably at Madame Puddi's right now." Sirius placed a hand on his forehead, "It all makes sense. Waking up early. Saying he's with Evans when he's really fucking some Ravenclaw. Wearing bloody aftershave. Randomly ditching me."

Remus knocked shoulders with Sirius, "He's not your boyfriend, and he's allowed to see whoever he wants."

"He's as good as," Sirius said firmly. "Even Lily calls him my boyfriend."

Remus raised an eyebrow agitatedly, "What the Hell am I then?"

"My side bitch."

Remus' frown spread even farther, "I hate you."

The boys made their way into The Three Broomsticks, all of them wondering where James had gotten. Sirius placed his cloak on a hanger beside Peter's and was debating snogging a barmaid to get alcohol off her when Peter's shocked voice caught his attention.

"I don't think you have to worry about James and a blonde Ravenclaw Sirius."

Sirius turned, "And why not?"

"He seems to have a current preference for gingers," Peter replied back hastily.

Peter pointed at the bar of The Three Broomsticks. James was sitting at the bar, one arm slung about Lily's shoulders. She was smiling at him as if he'd just said the funniest thing and he was lifting a glass to his lips to hide his own pleased grin. Their foreheads touched and they all watched as she used one hand to lift the cup from his lips so she could place her mouth against his.

They were fucking kissing.

Lily and James were kissing.

Sirius felt like his heart was going into overdrive.

"That-That's not—" Sirius sputtered and Remus placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Use your English, Padfoot," Remus mocked.

"This isn't funny Moony." Sirius' grey eyes were bulging out as he watched James reach out and move her hair past her cheek with his thumb, "Look at that. He's with Evans? Not me? She's got skinny knees. Her hair's frizzy. What the fuck."

"Jealousy suits you," said Remus, seemingly amused by Sirius' monologue.

"I can't believe they didn't tell us!" Sirius exploded, "She's such a—They fight all the time! She's the worst! She told me she wanted fucking pearl earrings for Christmas and she's not getting them!"

"Stop," Remus said emphatically, as Sirius continued to watch Lily fucking Evans practically undress his best mate with her eyes when she pulled back from kissing him, "You don't think she's skinny or bratty."

Sirius huffed deliberately, "I've always said she's got skinny knees and a bratty face."

Remus deadpanned, "You've literally never said that."

"Well I'm going to start," Sirius said before marching through the tables and chairs to the couple at the bar.

"Oh dear Merlin," Remus muttered softly from behind as he followed Sirius' march, "You're such a dramatic bastard sometimes."

When James and Lily spotted the boys approaching they didn't even try to look embarrassed. James kept his arm thrown around Lily as Lily waved them closer. Sirius noted Lily was wearing her muggle jeans again. James had his other hand dragging up and down them. Lily's eyes were dazzling.

"We were wondering when you'd lot get here!" Lily said gladly, her cheeks pink.

"How long have you two been here?" Remus asked keeping a hand on Sirius' shoulder as Sirius glared at Lily and James.

"We got breakfast here." Lily said to Remus, while James was looking at Lily like she was made of gold. "Right James?"

It was weird. Sirius was so used to seeing James and Lily match and challenge each other. He was so used to seeing Lily as the little sister representation in their life. He wasn't used to seeing James' lips turn towards her ear, whispering something into it with a slight chuckle. He wasn't used to Lily's eyes wandering farther than friendship with James. He wasn't used to Lily grinning at James like James had just given her those bloody pearl earrings she wanted—even if he hadn't.

He wasn't used to seeing James and Lily in love.

"Yeah," James had not perceived his friends' perplexed faces, "We got up pretty early."

"We didn't hear you." Peter said carefully.

Sirius couldn't hide the betrayal in his tone, "We didn't hear you go in or out, James."

James shrugged, "Lily and I stayed up late talking."

"All night?"

"Well we fell asleep on one of the sofas," Lily stated. "And didn't bother going back up when we woke up later."

All three boys glanced quickly at each other. Lily didn't seem to find anything wrong with what she'd said.

"What the fuck is going on?" Sirius finally blurted out.

"Huh?" James pulled from his trance.

"You're both acting weird."

"No we're not," They both said instantaneously.

Sirius narrowed his eyes, "Why were you kissing him?" he asked Lily.

Lily arched her brow, "Because I wanted to?"

"What's wrong?" James had finally noted the treachery on Sirius face after he'd finally looked away from Lily's face.

"Sirius is just jealous that James came to Hogsmeade with you instead of him," Remus told Lily.

"You could've come with," Lily said, seeming perplexed.

"I wasn't invited." Sirius sent a glare at James.

James put his hands up in defense; "I just thought you wouldn't fancy watching me shag her before you've had breakfast."

"You're not wron—wait, what?" Sirius' eyes flickered back and forth between the pair.

Lily goaded, placing a hand on James' chest, "I think he's gone into shock."

"How long has this been going on?" Sirius was desperate for answers. "You lot, shagging."

"I don't know." James adjusted his glasses on his nose, "Maybe a month ago?"

Sirius rounded on Remus, "I knew something was going on! I told you I wasn't being paranoid!"

Remus grumbled, "How was I supposed to know?"

"In James' defense," Lily spoke up quickly, "We weren't really telling anyone because we were worried the teachers wouldn't let us do rounds together."

"Rounds," Sirius blanched, "Don't you mean shagging fests? Fucking Hell James, I thought you were sick. Dying even. You were missing breakfast! Skipping Quidditch! You fucking got out of bed early for fuck's sake! Any normal friend would've been concerned!"

Remus mediated for Lily and James, "He was playing detective, trying to figure this out."

"Sirius," James said with a snort, "If you were so concerned why didn't you just ask where I was going?"

"I did and you said you were with Lil—" Sirius' eyes flickered back at Lily who was smiling at him expectantly, "Oh Merlin, and all this time you've been with her?"

"I mean, yeah," James said awkwardly. "I told you I was."

"I didn't know you were shagging!" Sirius said loudly enough that everyone close enough was starting to turn and watch.

"What did you think we were doing?" Lily asked with a sharp roll of her eyes.

Sirius said over-sensitively, "I thought you were just good friends!"

"We were good friends," Lily said with a wink at James. "But I had it something bad for him and finally just cornered him one night and kinda got carried away..."

Cornered him one night…

Sirius' eyes widened as he remembered James missing Quidditch practice. He remembered the exact moment, pinpointed the second James walked through the door after missing Quidditch practice. James had seemed off and dazed because Lily Evans (his crush since forever) had jumped him in the hallway before practice.

"No wonder you skipped Quidditch," Sirius whispered in horror. "You were shagging Evans!"

"Wait a second now," James said clearly, "We didn't shag-"

"Until after the quidditch party," Lily finished with a sheepish smile.

Fucking buggering shite.

Sirius' friends were shagging each other and he'd been oblivious to it for a month.

"Alright Padfoot?" James' voice brought Sirius back to the bar and Sirius looked at James, blinking weirdly.

Lily and James both looked to be concerned about Sirius. Sirius realized they both were looking at him for approval. His two friends, in love with each other, and worried that he was mad at them. Lily staring at Sirius, biting her lip as if she'd disappointed him. James' hand leaving her lap to ruffle his hair nervously as Sirius breathed evenly.

"I'm fine," Sirius replied. "Just sort of in shock."

"If it makes you feel any better," Lily half laughed, "We're both still in shock ourselves."

"I keep telling her that she's made a horrible mistake," James beamed when she reached up to ruffle his hair affectionately.

"I told you Potter. I'm not going anywhere."

Later, Sirius walked side-by-side with Lily, both of them headed for the castle. James, Remus, and Peter were walking a little ahead of them, throwing snowballs at each other. Lily was cheering for Remus alongside Sirius. She laughed into her mittens when Remus hit James face on with a snowball and James' glasses fell into the snow. James scrambled to get his glasses as they all laughed and Sirius saw the affectionate way Lily gazed at James.

"You know how lucky you are, right?" Sirius asked her.

"Huh?" Lily turned her green eyes away from James to Sirius.

Sirius nodded to his best friend, "He's never skipped Quidditch for anyone."

Her eyes drifted back over to where he was being tackled into the snow by Peter, "I have to say, I'm surprised he skipped Quidditch too."

"It'll probably never happen again," Sirius warned her.

Lily laughed and wrapped her arm into his, "That's okay." She stared up at Sirius with a wide smile, "I've got you to keep me company."

Shoutout to my "beta" AKA Northern Princess Poppy Levins for making sure this didn't totally and completely suck.

Wish I could tell you where I got the idea from but I literally have no idea, I just wanted to write Jealous!Sirius if I'm being serious(HA!).

lovelovelove

Petals