A head full of red hair raced out of a house that had been filled with shouts the moment before, across the street, through an invisible hole in a fence, and into that backyard.

"Ja-aaaames." She sobbed into the shoulder of the handsome young man who had been working there. "Petunia's…Petunia's getting married..."

"Shhh. It's alright. What's wrong with that, Lilsilee?" James told her.

"I…they want me to be the maid of honor, and I don't want to, and…"

James tipped her head up towards him. About to say something, he stopped, and then frowned.

"Go into the house and get mum to treat those." He ordered. "I'll be right there."

"Mr. Evans." Snarled James as soon as the door to his neighbor's house opened. "I have warned you before, and it's not a warning any more. Don't touch Lily."

"I can do whatever I please with my daughter, and I don't see how you're going to stop me."

Wordlessly, he whipped out his wand and muttered a complicated spell. "If you beat your wife or either of your daughters for the next year and a half, Evans, you'll feel each hit on your own body, but twice as hard." Seeing the disdainful look on his face, he added cheerily, "Or I can up it. Make it thrice as hard and two years."

Mr. Evans shook his head rapidly, looking slightly pale.

"No? Mmm, well, 'bye, then."

Sirius clutched his bag as hard as he could, but his grip was faltering. Breathing shallowly, he raced on his ancient broom towards the Potters' house. He finally came to the right place. One Sirius Black dropped his hastily packed bag, stopped his broom, and then promptly fell off it into a faint.

James crossed the street, whistling. Then he saw the form on his porch. There was a broom hovering over it, and a bag just behind it. He strode over to it, then flipped it over with his foot.

"Dear God, Sirius." He sighed. "It looks like you're finally here to stay. And in much worse shape than any time before, too, may I add?" He asked the unconscious figure as he bent over and picked him up.

"Mum!" He shouted as he kicked the door open.

"In here, James." Came her voice faintly from her workshop. His mum was a Healer, but she was only part time; the rest of her working day was spent trying to find new cures. James strode to her workroom with his best mate over his shoulder.

"Mum, it's Sirius again." He said as he laid him down on the table. "Looks like he's here to stay this time. Got a bag and everything." He turned and threw a weary smile at Lily. "How're you doing?"

"Fine, now. Thank you, James. Do…do you know where I could maybe find a flat? I'll get some work to pay for it soon, and I've got enough to get started."

James' mum, Serena Otria Kingston Potter (Sok P., for short. Or, if you like your head, mum or Serena...) told her, without looking up from her work on Sirius, "You're staying here. You can find some work if you want, but you, Miss Lily Evans, are not living anywhere but here and Hogwarts until you graduate or I give you my express permission. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Mummy-Yours." Lily mumbled, using her special name for Serena. "Thanks."

"It doesn't seem…" but Serena suddenly cut herself off in her own diagnostic. "Oh my God. They performed the Cruciatus on him."

James paled and Lily looked scared. "Who…?"

"His family." James whispered grimly, taking her into his arms for the second time that night. "His parents. His younger brother adores him, but…"

Lily shook her head, choking back a sob. "It's worse than mine?"

"Yeah."

Sirius' POV
I woke up to laughter. Warm, good, laughter, unlike the cruel sniggers of my parents as they tortured me.

"And then you flew right out of the swings and landed on your feet like a cat, not a bruise on you!" Chuckled James. Wait. James? I blinked, then slowly opened my eyes. My best mate in the entire world was laughing with…Evans?

"Jamesie-poo." I gasped pathetically. Drat. He hadn't heard me. I tried again. "James."

"James-fee-fiddley-oh, Sirius is awake and trying to get your attention." Evans told him. Wait. Rewind. James-fee-fiddley-oh? Where did that come from?

"An old nickname, Pads." James told me as he meandered over to me. Did I say that out loud?

"How are you, Sirius?" asked Serena from my other side. Apparently, she had been there the whole time. Bloody 'Ena.

"Fine. Sunshine and daisies and butter and bloody butterflies, 'Ena." I muttered.

"Language, 'Rius." Two guesses who that was.

I struggled to sit up. "I…can I stay?"

"You can and will, Sirius Black." Mr. Potter told me as he came into the room. Both he and James sort of…strutted, but in a good way, mind you. No one could ever say they strutted in a bad way. Only Death Eaters strut in a bad way, along with some select others. It was just a Potter family characteristic. The strutting, that is.

"Fine, Alex." I told him. "But I expect one cookie a day. And I'm going to have a brownie point chart that I'll write down for 'Ena, and then at the end of each week she has to pick one other person—it'll change every week, bit of a rotation—and they'll go down to the kitchen and make brownies without any help from the house elves." Alex opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "And I'm the only one allowed to clean my room, and I'll do all the dishes except the ones from lunch. Do your own for lunch or any snack you make. Got it?"

Looking quite amused, they all nodded. Good. Now, on to the important stuff. "What're you doing here, Evans? I thought you hated James. Didn't you say that you'd sooner go out with the Giant Squid than him?"

Mr. and Mrs. Potter gasped. "You did?"

Lily blushed. "Erm…yes?"

"Oh, my little darlings are growing up! How wonderful!" gushed Serena. That was unexpected. "Oh, I can just see the wedding now!" both James and Lily were bright red. What was going on? Serena waltzed out of the room.

"Really, son?" asked Alex. "Amazing." He winked at James and followed his wife.

"What the…?"

"Well, um, you see, Si, in our second year of Hogwarts, Lilsilee, here, said that she favored me above the rest of Hogwarts, but that the Giant Squid was her favorite. She told me, quite frankly, that I wouldn't have a chance with her until I could convince the Giant Squid to go out with her. So I did." James shrugged. "So, you basically just told my mum that we were, um, er…help, Flower?"

"Boyfriend-girlfriend."

"That doesn't make sense." I informed them. "How could the fact that she once told you she'd go with the Giant Squid before you now make it seem that you're together?"

"Guess you just had to hear it." They mumbled simultaneously. Simultaneously! As in, at the same time! Yes, I learned it from Moony. Now shut up, you.

"Whatever. That still leaves the question; what are you doing here, Evans?" I studied her face. "And why do you have the beginnings of a black eye."

"Family problems." She muttered, burying her face in James' chest. He began to stroke her hair and make shushing noises while glaring at me.

"She lives, or should I say lived, across the street." He looked down at her. Boy, was he in deep. I could practically feel the adoration he was radiating. And it wasn't towards me. It was almost…dare I say, love?