Disclaimer: For years I've been trying to own Harry Potter. Alas, it has been to no avail.

Author's Note: Hello, lovely readers (if there be any of you left :P)! I know I've been gone for aaaaaaages - Uni does that to you :( - but I'm back now, with 4 glorious months off, and a lovely Sirius/Lily fic to entice you all back into liking me :P It's purely a friendship...or lack therefore...fic this time, much more my wheel-house :) And it was inspired by a challenge on HPFC that I've forgotten the name of, where the challenger gave you the first line of the fic. So if my line seems familiar, it probably is! :) On with the show!

"Why did you do that for?"

Lily sighed.

"What."

"I said why-"

"No, the word is what, Black. What did you do that for. Not why."

"Pffft." Sirius waved a hand dismissively. "Why, what, who, when…they all mean the same thing love."

"Do not call me-"

"What they mean, Evans, is that you're an idiot. Prongs is really upset, you know." His face was, for once, serious. But Lily still couldn't manage to bite back the retort.

"My heart bleeds for him."

"I'm serious Lily! You were totally out of line, comparing him to scum like Snivellus." Her eyes flashed at the nickname – old habits die hard – but Sirius steamed on. "I mean, he defended you when Snivelly called you-"

But he'd gotten too close to the raw edges of the wound, and Lily cut in, rising from her chair almost as quickly as her temper.

"I don't need him defending me, thank you very much!" Her hands were balled into fists at her sides, her emerald eyes glinting in the firelight. "And besides, all I did was tell the truth – if Potter can't handle hearing it, that is not my problem!"

Sirius stood now too, his voice strangled with poorly suppressed outrage. "Woah, just wait a-"

"Strutting about like he owns the place, expecting everyone to just fall at his feet…" Lily was on a roll now, all her hurt and anger from the day pouring into this one impassioned speech.

"He doesn't-"

"…Thinking he's the greatest thing since sliced bread, that no-one else can compare with the mighty James Potter…"

"Lily-"

"You know, just because he's a pureblood does not make him better than every-"

"Stop." There was a cold, cold finality in Sirius' voice, so strong that it managed to cut through even Lily's blinding rage, and she stopped. Raising her head to look at him, she was shocked by what she saw.

His black eyes held a fury she didn't think was possible to feel, his expression so frosty she felt her anger melt pathetically under its wrath. When he composed himself enough to speak again, it was in a low, harsh tone.

"James is nothing like that Lily, and you know it. If you know what's good for you, I'll never hear that come out of your mouth again." His words were pure venom, and Lily knew he meant it. Before she could respond, he had shot her one final look of disdain and strode away.

But as he got to the portrait hole, he turned to face her once more, and barked:

"Oh, and before you go judging other people, you might want to take a long hard look in the mirror Evans. Why Prongs bothered defending such a heartless bitch, I don't know."

And then Lily was left alone.

She sank down into the fireside armchair, wrapping her arms around her knees. She didn't think she had ever seen Sirius so…serious before. And it was more than that. His words had struck a nerve inside of her. Heartless bitch. For once, she hadn't bitten back, and she knew it was because she saw the truth in what he'd said.

She'd been vile. James Potter had only been trying to help her. And while the fundamentals of her cruel public outburst had been true – he was a toe-rag, and bigheaded, and utterly infuriating – he would never do what she had just accused him of. He would never use his blood-status against her or anyone else.

She knew it.

So it was there, in front of the fire, that Lily hurled the worst insult at herself she could possibly muster.

"Mudblood," she whispered. And this time, she wasn't talking about magic.

A/N: Please REVIEW! And be nice...remember, my muse has been out of work for a while, he's a bit rusty :P