It had been 2 weeks since Sirius visited Lily in her dormitory and Sirius was just as happy now as he was then. He was sitting in the Gryffindor common room on the sofa in front of the fire with Lily sitting beside him, her head resting on his shoulder, her arm interlinked with his. They weren't speaking - they didn't need to. They both just sat there, enjoying the companionable silence that they had become so good at and relishing the closeness they had discovered.

At that moment, the portrait door opened and in came James, Peter, Rachel and Helen. Sirius watched the four of them make their way over to his and Lily's secluded corner. James had successfully asked Rachel out and the two of them appeared to be enjoying themselves as much as Sirius was with Lily. Although things had worked out how he wanted them to do, Sirius still felt strange being around James when he was with Lily. Although James had assured him that he was fine with his and Lily's relationship, Sirius still felt that he would be rubbing salt into the wound if he was to act with Lily how he did with Rachel. It was this that made Sirius sit upright and untangle his arm from Lily's. He could see her looking at him quizzically out of the corner of his eye but he promised himself that he would explain it to her later.

"Hey man – how's it going?" said Sirius when James and Rachel took the two available seats opposite him.

"Not bad, not bad at all?" replied James as he slumped into the chair, with Rachel sitting close by.

"Have you started your Defence assignment yet? I can't believe we have to write a 3 foot essay!" cried Rachel as she curled up to James.

"Nah – it'll be fine. Defence is easy ain't it Sirius?"

"Well it is if you are naturally talented like us mate!" replied Sirius, smirking.

"I guess us 'lesser mortals' will actually have to study for this one" said Lily

"Well you know you shouldn't be so hard on yourself" teased Sirius.

Lily laughed and threw a pillow at him which hit Sirius squarely in the face.

"PILLOW FIGHT!!!!!!!" shouted Rachel

The Common room erupted with shrieks of laugher and the sound of pillows thumping against their intended targets.

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The Pillow fight seemed to have tired out the majority of the Griffindors and as such the common room emptied quite quickly once peace had been restored. Sirius had stayed on the sofa by the fire talking and laughing with James and Remus, who had joined them from the library after the all the excitement of earlier in the evening. Since the subject of the Defence Against the Dark Arts essay had been mentioned, Lily had chosen to go upstairs and retrieve the work that she had already collected for her assignment and begin writing a rough draft of her essay.

Sirius had offered to sit with her but she knew that he would act as more of a distraction then a help so she told him that she would get more done if she was left to concentrate on her own. Sirius accepted her request and Lily even suspected that he had deliberately kept the noise to a minimum so that she could work without interruptions.

It was this caring side of Sirius that Lily had fallen in love with. Whenever she decided to give herself a quick break, her eyes would naturally wonder over to that area by the fire. Watching Sirius's eyes dance as he joked and talked with his best friends made an unconscious smile creep onto Lily's face. She could see now how much he adored and respected his friends. For the first time she could see what he meant when he said that his friends were his family.

It was starting to get late and Lily's eyes were tired from all the reading she had been doing. Sitting back in her chair, resigned to giving up for the night, she rubbed her eyes. Upon re opening them, she saw Sirius sitting on the chair opposite her. She looked around the room but it was empty except for the two of them.

"So you get much done?" asked Sirius getting up from his seat and walking around the table so that he was now positioned behind her chair. Lily felt his arms wind themselves around her shoulders as his head came to rest on her right shoulder. Lily leaned her head back and closed her eyes again. Her hand had rose to the back of Sirius's head and was now caressing the back of his neck.

"I've got a rough draft done. I just wanna run it past Professor Maple first and see what she thinks."

"Hmmmm" was Sirius's reply. Lily smiled to herself. She knew that Sirius loved to have the back of his neck stroked.

"So James or Remus have any news for you?"

Lily felt Sirius raise his head and remove his arms from around her. She turned and looked at him, questioningly. A look of anxiety had appeared on his face

"What's wrong?" asked Lily worried

"Well I guess you would find out sooner or later. I'm just glad am the person who gets to tell you."

"Sirius, please you are scaring me now. What is going on?"

"When Remus was in the library, he met Jody Massey from Hufflepuff. She told him that Suranne Metlock got an owl early in the evening summoning her home as soon as possible. Apparently her dad has been arrested for using Dark Magic against his wife."

Lily gasped and held her hand to her mouth in horror, unable to speak.

"Jody reckons that Mr Metlock is one of the nicest people in the world and does not believe that he acted of his own free will."

"What doe she mean by that? The Imperious Curse?"

"Well according to Jody, Suranne's mum is quite high up in the Ministry, so if he was under the Imperious Curse then she would be a prime target."

"That is awful. Poor Suranne – she must be devastated!"

"She was sent to Dumbledore's office by Professor Sprout and he sent her home immediately"

Lily fell into stunned silence. Something was going on out there but she didn't know what. First Gerald's sister now this. Who knows what else has happened that hadn't reached their ears yet. Lily looked up at Sirius. She could see concern etched all over his face and she knew that he knew more then what he was letting on.

"Should I be preparing myself for more of this Sirius?"

Sirius shifted in his seat nervously. She knew that he was trying to buy time, wondering how much he should let her know.

"Sirius" She said taking his face in her hands. "I know you are only trying to protect me but I need to know – for my own sanity."

Sirius bit his lower lip and sighed deeply before beginning.

"Whilst I was staying over at James's last summer, we noticed that there had been reportings of strange behaviour –disappearances of certain witches and wizards and unexplained accidents etc. At first we thought nothing of it but we soon noticed that James's parents were becoming kinda uneasy. We would walk into a room and hear the end of hushed discussions. If we ever asked what was going on, they would just dismiss our enquires and change the subject. Then when we came back to school, we noticed the teachers having the same hushed discussions at the dinner table especially after the attack on Gerald's sister. Of course we could not hear what they were saying but we recognised the uneasiness."

"So what do you think is going on?"

"We don't know but we are sure it is something big. I know I down played Dumbledore being away at Christmas but something was up that day. "

Lily chewed the inside of her mouth whilst she digested what she had just been told. She knew deep down that something wasn't right and now she wasn't alone in her thinking.

"Thank you for being honest with me. I really appreciate it." Lily replied.

Sirius smiled weakly before announcing that they had better make a move to bed. Sirius gave Lily a tender kiss before disappearing up the staircase that led to the boy's dormitories.

Lily changed into her pyjamas and got into bed. She had intended to think about Sirius's revelations but found that all her studying had worn her out and she felt sleep wash over her as soon as her head hit the pillow.

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Sirius felt uneasy. He knew that he had told Lily all that he and James had surmised but he had consciously refrained from telling her what troubled him the most. The fact that the majority of the attacks had been made upon those that were known or later discovered to be Muggle borns gave Sirius a very troubled night's sleep.