This is your fault Evans. All your fault, Sirius Black thought grimly, staring at his best friend. It's your fault that he's like this. And yet you don't care, you act like you're not hurting anybody. But you're hurting us. By doing what you're doing, you're hurting us. His friends. His best friends. His family.

Sirius leaned back into the ragged old chair, his elbows propping up his head, his shaggy black hair falling into his eyes. It was a Saturday night and he was watching his best friend, James Potter, who was in a far corner of the Gryffindor common room. Sirius was surrounded with his fellow Marauders, minus one of course, because James wasn't there. "Remus," he muttered softly, as if he almost didn't want his friend to hear him. But that word fluttered in Remus Lupin's ear before disappearing clean into the air. Sirius knew that Remus would hear him; it was the werewolf in Remus that sharpened all of his senses.

"What?" Remus whispered back, just as softly…maybe even softer. It was a good thing that Sirius had a keen sense of hearing due to having a dog as his animagus form. Besides, Remus had always been a perceptive person.

"It's her fault Moony," Sirius voiced his thoughts, using the Marauder's nickname for Remus.

"He's different," Remus agreed, his blue eyes analyzing James' every movement. "And yes, it is because of her. Padfoot, what did you expect? After years of chasing after her and being rejected…Something was bound to happen."

"But look at him!" Sirius shouted in a whispering way. "I've never seen him like this. It's scaring me." Sirius shifted his position so that he could face Remus, who was sprawled lazily on the leather couch. "He's drifting away from us. He just doesn't talk to us as much and he's never around us."

"What can you do Sirius?" Remus questioned, fully knowing that the Marauders could long do nothing. "Personally, I don't think we can or should do anything. It'll be all right Sirius. It's not like he's going to leave us or abandon us. He can't throw away years and years of friendship like this. Nobody could. C'mon Sirius, we're the Marauders. You, me, Peter, James. And we've become the Prank Kings of this school. Padfoot, Moony, Wormtail, Prongs. Everybody knows us. He just can't forget us. No matter how he tries or no matter how distracted he gets."

Sirius blinked, his grey eyes peeking through his eyelids. "I guess," he said, "but I can't just help but feel…helpless, abandoned, forgotten. And there's nothing we can do about it." Sighing again, Sirius rubbed his tan neck with his hands.

Remus flipped onto his stomach and glanced at James. His blond hair was pushed out of the way so that he could see clearer. "But are you willing to destroy his happiness for yours? Especially when you shouldn't even be worried?" Remus asked seriously, returning his glance to Sirius before getting up and retreating to his dormitory.

Sirius sighed for what must have been the thousandth time that day and watched his friend again. James was lying down on a couch with his girlfriend, Lily Evans on top of him. He was stroking her hair and whispering words into her ear; words that made her laugh, pout, kiss him. Finally, after six years of chasing after her, James had gotten the girl he wanted. After watching them more closely, Sirius decided that he couldn't hold things against Lily, in fact, his friend was happier than he had ever been in his whole life. And Sirius had come to terms that the pure undiluted love James received from Lily was just something that his friendship could never give James.