*Lilah POV*

"Yeah okay!" Remus yelled. "You want to talk about lying? Well then how about you start us off, huh?"

I stared at him in hurt, never had my dad yelled at me.

Not my dad.

Not my dad I had to remind myself.

"What?" I breathed out, confused at how the conversation had taken such a massive turn.

"Is your name even Lilah? Or did you lie about that, too?" He continued to yell, his face holding a fury that none of us had seen before. "Ha! I get it, it's Lie-lah, yeah?"

"Of course my name is Lilah, Remus! What are you even going on about?" I exclaimed, feeling my temper rise.

"Are you even my cousin?"

My silence was his answer.

He staggered back a few steps, "Of course you're not," He laughed, tears stinging at his eyes.

Four hours earlier

"What are you doing?" I asked Sirius warily, kind of scared of the answer.

"I, my Dear, am obviously eating breakfast," He replied casually, shoving a spoon of cornflakes into his mouth.

"Right," I coughed, still a bit apprehensive.

I sat down opposite him, shooting him glances every now and then when I thought he wouldn't notice.

"Like what you see?" He attempted to grin cockily only to fail as milk began to dribble down his chin, setting me off in hysterical laughter. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Once I calmed down, I decided to follow Sirius' actions and spit it out. "What's wrong, Iri?"

"Whatever do you mean, Angel?"

"You're just being quiet, it's unlike you," I answered, staring at him worriedly, knowing that something major had to be wrong if he was being this quiet.

"It's nothing, really, Li." He attempted to assure, forcing a weak smile upon his lips.

"Tell me," I demanded, reaching over to grab his hand in mine.

"I-," he sighed, gently removing his hand from mine.

I looked at him in hurt, doing my best to not take his brush-off personally.

"Hey, hey, it's not you, alright?" He grabbed my hand tightly, not letting go despite my attempt. "It's just James being James." He sighed out.

"I'm always here for you, you know that right? I mean I'm not going to feed you a bullshit line but if you need a shoulder to cry on," I teased, referring to his speech from a few days ago.

He barked out a laugh, his grey eyes scrunching up as he shook his head. "Get lost you little sod."

"You know you love me," I goaded, winking at him playfully.

"That I do," He sighed quietly.

Two hours earlier

*James POV*

"Just ask her," I encouraged a nervous Remus, watching him as he paced in front of his bed.

"How? How on Earth am I supposed to just bring that up casually?" He stressed, pulling at the roots of his hair.

"I dunno, start a conversation about how sneaky liars are and how nobody likes a sneaky liar," I shrugged, not being of much use.

"How are you not freaking out?" He screamed out, glaring at me from across the dorm.

"I'm not sure, really. Despite our non-existent friendship, I still trust her. I love her for Merlin's sake Moony, it'd be kinda hard to love her if I didn't trust her," I explained, wiggling my cramped toes in the black converse Remus had gifted me for my birthday last year.

"Right, of course," Remus muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Ten minutes earlier

*Lilah POV*

"Put that down!" I berated Sirius quietly, not wanting to attract the attention of our studying peers.

"No," Sirius pouted.

"Sirius Orion Black, put that chair down right now!"

"No," he crossed one arm stubbornly, the other still holding firmly onto the chair. "P.S. how do you even know my middle name?"

Because we were friends in the future.

"It's a secret," I smirked, withholding my silent thoughts. "Now let's get some lunch, I'm starving!"

Sirius dropped the chair with a loud resounding bang, shrugging sheepishly as the other students glared at him. He threw an arm across my shoulders lazily, directing me to the library exit.

"Butterflies or caterpillars?" He asked randomly, running a hand through his dark locks.

I glanced up at him amusedly only to catch him already looking at me, a faint blush flickering across his cheeks before he cleared his throat and looked away. "Caterpillars," I finally answered, "I kind of like the thought that something can start off so simple yet has so much potential to be something more."

"I see," He nodded.

"Oi Pads!" A voice called out, breaking the silence.

"Aye, Prongs!" Sirius yelled, quickly withdrawing his arm as he jumps on James. "I've missed you!" He mimics wiping away a tear.

"Hey," James nods at me, "I'm really sorry, by the way," he adds nervously, scratching the back of his neck whilst rocking back and forth on his heels.

I raise an eyebrow at him, silently questioning if he was being serious.

"Right," he coughed out. "I'll do better next time, just you wait!"

Next time? What was this boy up to?

"Sirius," Remus nods, refusing to acknowledge me as we walked down the corridor to the Great Hall.

I thought we had made up?

I shot a questioning look to Sirius who just furrowed his eyebrows in response.

"I think it's kinda cool that caterpillars can turn into butterflies and moths. Its rather fascinating," I smiled, continuing our earlier conversation.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you were lying about that as well," Remus grumbled angrily.

"What was that, Remus?" I questioned, wondering if I'd heard him right.

"You heard me," Remus spat.

"For Merlin's sake, Moony, calm down!" Sirius pleaded.

"Oh so now you've got Sirius as your lap dog? What happened to James?" He exclaimed harshly.

"No one's my lap dog, Remus! He was just trying to defend me," I replied, my face turning red in anger. "I wasn't even lying!"

"Yeah okay!" Remus yelled. "You want to talk about lying? Well then how about you start us off, huh?"

I stared at him in hurt, never had my dad yelled at me.

Not my dad.

Not my dad I had to remind myself.

"What?" I breathed out, confused at how the conversation had taken such a massive turn.

"Is your name even Lilah? Or did you lie about that, too?" He continued to yell, his face holding a fury that none of us had seen before. "Ha! I get it, it's Lie-lah, yeah?"

"Of course my name is Lilah, Remus! What are you even going on about?" I exclaimed, feeling my temper rise.

"Are you even my cousin?"

My silence was his answer.

He staggered back a few steps, "Of course you're not," He laughed, tears stinging at his eyes. "I should've known," he turned and walked away.

My watery eyes instantly shot to Sirius to gage his reaction, only to find his once warm face stoic and cold. "Iri-"

"I-I can't believe you," He shook his head, roughly shoving past me.

I took a sharp intake of breath, the first of the tears beginning to fall. I glanced up warily at the last person, looking into his understanding eyes through his glasses. "They'll come around, Li, don't worry about it," he clasped my shoulder gently before moving to follow his friends.