“Hello James, hello Sirius,” Jocelyn greeted, bounding down the girls’ staircase. “Ready to go?”
The boys nodded and began heading toward the portrait hole.
“Wait, I’ve forgotten something,” said Sirius suddenly, just as he and Jocelyn had planned. “You two go ahead, I’ll catch you up.”
“All right,” said Jocelyn, dragging James out the portrait hole.
“You reckon we should wait for him here?” James questioned as soon as they were out.
“No!” said Jocelyn quickly.
James frowned at her.
“I mean, no,” she laughed casually, trying to cover. “He’ll catch us up.”
“All right,” James shrugged. “We’re meeting Remus and Peter in the Three Broomsticks then?”
“That’s right,” said Jocelyn.
The two walked in silence to the entrance hall where Filch was checking everybody out.
“You know, I was thinking about our Quidditch match,” began Jocelyn, knowing this would distract James. “With Slytherin. Anyway, I’ve been watching their game and I’ve noticed a weakness with their Chasers.”
“Yes, I’ve noticed it as well,” said James, taking the bait without a second thought. “The way they aim at the goal hoops, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Jocelyn nodded. “D’you know any good moves for our Keeper?”
“Yes, I have one in mind,” James confirmed. “It’s a simple maneuver, but it’ll slaughter the Slytherins if the don’t fix their throws. You see…”
Jocelyn smiled quietly at her success.
Half an hour later Sirius and Lily were walking together down the same road but they were silent.
“D’you want to go to the Three Broomsticks, then?” questioned Lily as they passed the winged boars that guarded the Hogwarts gates.
“Er, no, not there,” said Sirius awkwardly. He wasn’t sure how much he could tell Lily about the situation with James. Lily seemed to understand, however, because she didn’t press the matter.
“Know anywhere where we won’t run into people?” she asked next.
“Yes, I do,” answered Sirius, relieved to finally be able to answer a question directly.
“Take me there,” she ordered.
“Your wish is my command,” he said grandly.
She laughed. Sirius smiled. It was the second Black success in one morning.
“What’s up?” he questioned as soon as they were walking along the deserted road that led away from the village.
“I want you to tell me everything you know about James Potter,” Lily informed him.
Sirius stared at her.
“Sorry?” he said, sure he had misheard.
Lily repeated her question.
“Why?” he asked suspiciously.
Lily rolled her eyes.
“If I’m going to ‘give this a shot’, as everyone keeps telling me I should do I need to know all I can about him. You’re his best mate, so you’re the one who’s going to tell me,” she explained.
Sirius frowned.
“Why not ask Jocelyn?” he wondered.
“Jocelyn’s a girl. It’s not the same,” she explained unhelpfully.
“Um… okay,” Sirius shrugged.
“So, let’s go, tell me everything,” Lily ordered. “I want your whole history, from the moment you met him.”
Sirius thought for a moment.
“If you want that,” he told her, “we’re going to have to start at my childhood. You won’t understand my relationship with James unless you first understand my relationship with everyone else.”
“Fair enough,” she nodded. “Now tell me.”
Sirius took a deep breath.
“The Blacks aren’t the nicest clan you’d want to associate with,” he began slowly. “They’re “ er “ purists is the term, I suppose. They’re not fond of people like… well, people like you.”
“Muggle-borns,” said Lily, nodding. “Continue.”
“There’s a lot of inbreeding because of that. You see, a Black doesn’t want to lower himself to marry anyone other than a Black. Well, no, that’s not true,” he added reflectively. “It’s just that the choices are pretty much limited to Blacks. We purebloods are dying out, and that’s the only kind of witch or wizard a Black is expected to marry. It’s disgusting, but they’re a warped set of people. It makes the family pretty tight-knit, and fairly large. There were dozens of cousins running around our house all the time. Our house was the base, you understand. It was the largest; it was where pretty much everyone had grown up. But in spite of, or maybe because of the fact that there were so many of us I only ever liked two of my cousins. Both were girls. The first was Andromeda. She’s a good eight years older than I am, but she was always nice to me when I was kid. She’d slip me candy, things like that.”
Sirius looked over at Lily, who was nodding slowly.
“The other, of course, was Jocelyn. Her family wasn’t like the rest of the clan. They’re not the purist type. They don’t care what kind of blood you’ve got, as long as you’re decent. Her mum and dad were kind of like parents to me when I was little. Really decent couple. And outcasts in the Black world because of it. They’re a trio of blood-traitors, you know.”
“I know,” murmured Lily.
“Well, anyway, aside from them, my family’s not what you’d call a really pleasant set to be around. I didn’t have “ what’s the phrase? Oh yeah, a great ‘home life’. My parents weren’t too fond of Andromeda “ she’s a blood-traitor too, after all “ or Uncle Alphard, Aunt Vega, and Jocelyn. They weren’t exactly popular dinner guests at our house. My parents thought they were betraying the family by mingling with the likes of Muggle-borns. I hated them for that! And my soft, idiot of a little brother, who lapped up every word they said! Regulus, the perfect son! ‘Why can’t you be more like Regulus, Sirius?’” Sirius mocked in a high-pitched voice, then deepened it to add, “‘At least Regulus shows some loyalty to his family!’ As if cursing Muggle-borns in the halls was something to be proud of!” he concluded bitterly.
“Yes, your brother’s not exactly the most pleasant bloke, is he?” Lily observed quietly.
“No,” said Sirius cynically. He couldn’t quite believe he was having this conversation with Lily Evans, the girl his best mate fancied, and his cousin Jocelyn’s best friend. He wasn’t even sure how they had gotten on this subject. “Quite the opposite.”
“How did your family feel about you becoming a Gryffindor?” she questioned after a moment.
“Well, you can imagine that went over like a wingless owl!” said Sirius sarcastically. “Got a good week’s worth of Howlers over it, you probably remember.”
“Yes, I do,” agreed Lily slowly.
“After that… well, things got worse. Going home for holidays became pure torture. Two years later Regulus came to Hogwarts, and of course he landed in the right house ““ Slytherin ““ where every self-respecting, pureblooded wizard should be.” Sirius laughed without humor. “He got himself a nice group of friends too. Narcissa ““ our cousin, though it pains me to admit it ““ looked out for him, and brought him into the circle of some other high-ranking Slytherins: Avery and Rosier are the only two I think you’d know, but there were quite a few others. Powerful purebloods who all love the Dark Arts and hate Muggle-borns. Evil gits, so naturally my parents adore them. And what do I have for friends? Two blood-traitors, and a borderline Squib. Well, you can imagine how popular they are to bring home for holidays!” He laughed bitterly.
“So your parents don’t like the Potters?” asked Lily tentatively.
“That’s putting it nicely, Lils,” Sirius informed her with a harsh smile. “They hate the Potters. They’re not related to us “ that is, I don’t think they are “ but my parents wouldn’t admit it if they were. Blood-traitors, the lot of them, which isn’t exactly something my family’s very proud of.” He stopped and turned to her suddenly. “But do you know the worst crime they’ve committed, Lily?”
Lily shook her head, frowning.
“Their son’s fallen in love with a Muggle-born,” he said quietly.
Lily stopped dead, staring at him. Her breathing was heavy, and her nostrils flared. For a moment Sirius thought she was going to attack him. Then she threw her arms around him and burst into tears.
A/N: Okay, so last time I let the whole “ten reviews for an update” thing slide, mainly because I was so excited about this chapter. However I’m not going to be so easy this time, so give me a review (and this time from ten different people ;) )! Thanks.