His eyes slowly opened. His vision was slightly blurry as he tried to focus on his surroundings. He thought he was alone, since no one was in the room…or so he thought.

“How are you feeling?” came an angelic voice. He couldn’t see her at first. But then her bright green eyes appeared, perfectly matched with her beautiful smile.

“Sweet mercy, I’ve made it into paradise!” he groaned.

“Not likely,” Lily snickered as she sat upon his bed. Sirius tried to move to sit properly, but his insides jolted him to lie back down. “Take it easy.”

“What happened to me?”

“Madam Pomfrey said that James and Remus brought you in. It looked like you were in a fight.” Lily propped up his pillows to make him more comfortable. But from the expression on her face, she looked as if she needed the comfort. “Were you fighting?”

Sirius’ mind recalled the answer. His eyes dodged hers to cover the truth, “No, no. It was nothing.”

“Really? Cause I overheard James and Remus talking about what had happened at the Shrieking Shack.” Sirius could hear Lily exhaling deeply. “I didn’t mean for this to happen – you and James.”

“Look,” Sirius forced himself up, ignoring the jabs of pain in his stomach, “regardless of what you’ve heard, it wasn’t that bad. James and I will get through this and we will still be friends.”

“Yet still, if we hadn’t -”

“Don’t!” He raised his hand to stop the words from her mouth. “Don’t take it back,” his tone pleaded with her. “What happened that night happened. And if you take that kiss back now…then I’d have to stop believing in love.” He lay back down like a man defeated from a long drawn out fight. The pain at his sides was too much. But not as much as the pain that throbbed within his heart.

“I don’t want to be ‘that girl’ that broke a friendship. I don’t want to be fought over like some prized trophy.”

“Yet you are so worthy,” he said plainly. “You deserve someone who’d fall at your feet and fight to be at your side,” he smiled. “You deserve a love that’s unconditional and somewhat uncontrollable in a passionate sense. You deserve –“

“You?” Her eyes looked deep within his as she finished his sentence. They sat in silence, holding each other’s gaze. He knew she was right. He could be that man. But at what cost to his friendship?

Ignoring the pain yet following his heart's desire, he pulled her into his embrace. Lily protested a little, but she found herself accepting his advances as she met him with a kiss.

But before it got any further; the sound of falling beads interrupted them.

“What was that?” Lily asked nervously.

Sirius looked to where the noise was and found jellybeans along the floor. He picked up one and tasted it. From the flavor, he knew whom they had come from.

“James.”