"So... you finally get a chance alone with the guy you've liked for years - "

"A week or so!" I corrected, slightly annoyed that she was forcing me to look up from my charms homework, "Anyway I told you all this yesterday..." Marlene held her hand up which was her way of telling me not to interrupt.

 " - and instead of, I don't know, snogging him or something you eat 47 exploding bonbons? Then you freak out that it was going too fast and ran away despite the fact all you had done was flirt and eat too much of  the world's worst sweet?" She continued, in the same slow tone.

"I think it sounds sweet first date, it's very... you guys." Mary said firmly.

"It wasn't a first date, he didn't pay and we ate bonbons a bench. I don't think he thought it was a date anyway." I said looking down, desperate to change the subject. It seemed a bit like a date but who could telI anymore. I didn't know whether I wanted it to be a date or not to be completely honest.

I noticed that Marlene's lips still had a faded crimson tint from yesterday and saw my opportunity, "Anyway, me and Potter are old news, shouldn't we be talking about you and Sirius...?"

Marlene was very lucky, she wasn't a blusher like me but I sensed that if she could, right now she would. I'd always known that Marlene had a slight crush on Sirius but she'd never really done anything about it, maybe she just hadn't had the incentive.

"We're just friends..." She said glaring at me even though this was sort of karma for the all the interrogations she'd put me under.

"You were the one who invited them yesterday..." Alice said and I could see Marlene's brain desperately scanning for an excuse. Her eyes rested on me and I knew exactly what she was going to say to deflect the attention.

"I only did that for Lily's benefit, so she and James could actually spend some time together in a place that wasn't full of cauldrons and weird smelling potions." She said, sticking out her tongue me as I scowled at her.

"I'd love to carry on talking about me and James but I actually have to be at prefect duty right now. Remus is probably waiting for me, I reckon." I exited the situation as quickly as I could as I could feel my cheeks reddening at the mention of it again. I wished Marlene would stop bringing it up so much, I wasn't used to all the attention being on me, I wasn't made to bask in the limelight.

To get out of the common room, I had needed to tell a slight lie. Not a really bad one like the time I told James that he hadn't accidentally grown his nose in charms - this one was just a little white lie. Prefect duty wasn't for another ten minutes but I left at such random times that I doubted my friends could remember.  An elaborate detour would easily pass the time.

"Students shouldn't be out of bed, Evans." I heard a voice behind me say, causing to clumsily whip around, almost tripping over onto my face. I was expecting/hoping it was James given his habit of sneaking up on me. I was rather enjoying our spontaneous encounters right now but instead a tall, long haired man slunk out of the shadows.

People were always saying how Sirius and James looked like brothers and sometimes I saw what they meant. I think people only noticed the minor similarities because they were always together as brothers was going a bit too far in my opinion. That said they both had the same shade of hair and the same cocky grin. Back in first year when they'd had similar long haircuts, I couldn't tell them apart from behind not that it mattered as my lectures had been addressed to both of them.

Maybe it was just the dim lighting from the torches but right now, Sirius had never looked more different from James. He looked like one of those attractive criminals who lures random girls to their deaths, charming yet sinister. The way he crept out of the shadows, made me want to run away like a scared child even though being alone in the almost pitch black corridors suddenly seemed just as terrifying.

"That rule only applies to first years," I said, somehow managing to keep a cool, collected tone, "But all years should be in the common room by now and that applies to you too, Black."

He laughed slightly even though what I'd said wasn't even remotely funny which somehow made him even creepier. I'd never thought of him as an unnerving figure and I has several opinions about the heartbreaker. I noticed that in his hand was one of those cheap cigarettes that my Dad used to buy. He didn't light it but kept it perched between his fingers, for effect, I assumed.

"James told me about your date. Sounded fine," He remarked casually enough but something about his tone was off, " Apparently you were exactly neck and neck."

"Yeah, that's what he said, but I reckon he lied for a rematch." I said, laughing in an attempt to hide how much my voice was wavering with nerves, "Did he really say it was a date?"

"Yeah, he did." He paused and watched my face closely for a second, trying to gage my reaction to this, "He said it went well too, you were even up for seeing him again even with his most stuffed full of those vile things he calls sweets."

"They're actually quite nice once you get past the exploding part..." I argues back, attempting to defend the world's most underrated sweet AND hopefully get back onto  a less awkward topic. He didn't seem to notice, carrying on with his train of thought.

"But then suddenly right at the end, you changed. He said it was like you froze up and closed off suddenly and he couldn't figure out what he'd done wrong." He said, the cigarette being slowly bent as his fingers clenched slightly. His expression suddenly rapidly changed to one of hurt, almost as if I'd left him instead of James yesterday, "Why did you do that, Lily?"

"I just... it was so new to me all of this, I got confused." I floundered, wishing I'd stayed with Marlene and the others. Compared to whatever on earth this was, theirs seemed almost fun. At least they were only teasing, there was something wild about Sirius right now.

"So you just gave him some random excuse about missing your girls when you'd voluntarily left with him only half an hour before?" He said, his voice rising until he was almost yelling

"I don't have to take this, Black." I yelled back, my temper flaring, "Besides you're hardly one to lecture on my on leaving people on dates, you're the master of shagging girls and then ditching them. Abby said that you told her James was dying and that was why you jumped two storeys off the roof to get away from her. What did I was nothing compared to you!"

His face looked suitably shocked as I stormed away from him.

"Lily...wait." His voice sounded scarily like James and I automatically came to a stop, "I didn't mean for this to be a guilt trip..."

"I'm allowed to change my mind and get confused." I said, refusing to look at him. My rage had subsided, quite suddenly, and my tone now resembled that of a child on the verge of tears. There was a long awkward silence between us and I was half tempted to slowly slip away to the comfort of Remus and our long patrol.

"I know, trust me I get that. One second I like someone and the next it's gone..." I turned around to see that his hard expression was gone and he looked like he was struggling to articulate what he was thinking, "Just... be honest with him. I sat next to you in transfiguration for a year and sometimes you would just switch. Like one class you'd actually talk to me and contribute and then the next you'd just cold and blankly stare into the distance."

I looked at him confused, what did second year transfiguration have to do with this?

"I'm not saying it right but what I'm trying to get at is that James is a great guy and he thinks the world of you. When you'd switch off with me, I would brush it off, it didn't matter too much to me if you were talkative or not. But with him, he worries. He's been waiting for a stupid bonbon contest like that with you since he first laid eyes on you and I think he's just already paranoid about messing it up with something dumb. Just... be honest with him. If you're confused just say it because at least he knows rather than thinking the worst. He's like a brother to me, just please don't hurt him."

Sirius stopped and looked at me. He no longer looked sinister to me, he looked almost afraid, like he was expecting me to flip out and yell at him.

"I'm not saying don't feel it - " Sirius began, his tone suddenly become desperate as if he wanted to backtrack but I cut off. I absentmindedly stepped towards him as I spoke and he jumped back in fear of me like a little mouse who had spotted an eagle.

"It's okay, Sirius, I get it." I smiled slightly and watched as his face moved into a sort of weak echo of my smile. I was about to walk away but then I realised this was my prime opportunity to get a message to James, "Sirius... can you tell James something for me? If stuff does happen I don't want it to be a really big thing, I know that's almost impossible as Marlene said everybody suspected it would happen at some point but... I just want it to be more private, I don't like people knowing everything about my life. Can you try and tell him? I would tell him myself at some point but there's nothing happening between us officially so it might be awkward..."

"I'll let him know for you..." He said pausing slightly, "It's James though, he loves doing big public gestures but I'll tell him for you. I understand that."

I let out a sigh of relief, feeling a lot calmer about it. I felt like I could handle it more knowing that only a select few people would know. If everybody was asking me questions it would make me stressed and uneasy and I was glad that he got it.

"I'll let you go and do whatever you and Remus do when you're meant to be punishing first years." He said.

"We do punish them with verbal warnings, Remus sometimes even says he'll dock a few points too..." I said although it sounded ridiculous to me.

"Classic Remus." Sirius said, his smile widening as he turned away from me, finally letting me leave. From behind, he just looked like a normal guy. Not sinister or amazingly handsome or scared. Just a regular teenage boy.

You know that one line where Lily talks about Sirius ditched a girl? Well a few people wanted me to write all the ways Sirius ditched his dates(me included) so I did. I present to you, 101 ways to ditch the Date! - E x