Dancing in the dark

Chapter One

Remus was waiting at the international arrivals gate at JFK airport when he felt his phone buzz, he already knew who it would be before he even looked at the screen.

Pads

Do you have him yet?

Remus sighed and smiled fondly as he tapped out his reply.

Rem

I'm waiting at the gate, his flight just landed.

Pads

K, I'm not allowed my phone in rehearsal but text me x

Rem

Of course. U gonna eat with us?

Pads

Don't wait for me I'll eat with Lils or later x

Rem

Ok, but make sure you do eat!

Pads

Promise, xx

Rem

Xx

Passengers were coming out the gate just as he was putting his phone back in his pocket. He spotted his friend at the same time he was spotted and he pulled him into a strong embrace as soon as he was close enough, they both stayed that way for a long moment.

"It's good to see you." He said warmly as they pulled away grasping shoulders, drinking in the sight of each other..

"You too," Remus grabbed James' bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"It's been a long time, I'm glad you decided to come."

"There's nothing left for me in Cape Town. You and Sirius are the only family I have, now that mums gone. There's nowhere else I would want to be. Thanks for putting me up, I hope I'm not an inconvenience."

"James you're my brother, and as such, never an inconvenience. I can crash with Sirius, when I'm not working at the label, so you will have the place to yourself most of the time, but If you want me to keep you company of course I'll stay."

"No, I'm sure I can cope without you, but thanks for the offer." James added with a warm smile. "I can't believe my two best friends met, and got together without any help from me."

"You introduced us, when we were still in college, but yeah, it was Lily who gave us the nudge we needed really."

"Lily?"

"Sirius' flatmate, they were at dance school together. She was on the tour tour?"

"I don't think I've met her, anytime I visited him at Ilvermorny I just met his weird roommate Pete, but anyway. How was your first tour? I thought music producers didn't travel with the artists."

"I'm only an assistant producer." Remus corrected, "Angel wanted to continue working on new songs while on tour, so I was given the task of helping. It was really good actually, I liked working with them. He's going back on tour, so it might be happening again soon. You sure you are okay with me leaving you on your own?"

"Hey, you know I like my own space. You are allowing me the breathing room I need to find who I am again." Remus gave his friend a sympathetic smile.

"Let's find ourselves an Uber."

They did not really speak again until they were sitting at the table in Remus' warehouse apartment. The remains of two giant pizzas, from James' old favourite place, sitting between them. Remus has known James wanted to talk but not while others could overhear, and now that dinner was out they way, he was ready to listen to his friend, and James was finally ready to talk.

"What am I going to do? I thought my life was planned, just goes to show you can't predict anything. I'm twenty seven and have to start all over again." The hopelessness in James' voice made his heart break for his brother.

"You still have your work, you still have your friends. You can bounce back from this, the great and confident Prongs is not going to stay down for long. She didn't take everything from you?"

"If you start calling me by my college nickname again, I'll start calling you Mooney." he leaned back in his chair sliding his hands behind his head, " As for my work, I've not been able to write much more than a paragraph since this all happened, and even then it's poor. My publisher has been sympathetic, but I'm not sure how much longer their patience will last. It's strange to think back now, how much I invested into my life with Clarissa. How can I trust myself to try again, when I made such a huge mistake?"

"You took a chance. it was very James. You've learned from it, and I'm hoping you'll be more cautious about leaping into things in the future, but that doesn't mean I want you to stay at home all sad and miserable. Come out tonight with me and Sirius. It might help you relax, you should be out enjoying your single status. You need a quick hook up to get her out your system for good." James shook his head.

"Thanks, but I'll pass, I've never been interested in quick hook ups. I'm so jet lagged right now I've no idea what time my body thinks it is. I'm just gonna chill."

Remus looked at his friends and half jokingly said to him. "First night back in New York City and you are just going to crash out? College James would be very disappointed in you." James managed a weak smile for his friend.

"I promise I'll be more human tomorrow. I know I've not been a very good friend these last few years, since we left college if I'm being honest. I regret that."

"Hey, we all drift apart, we've all had our own shit to deal with." Remus looked down at his hands resting on the table. "I should have tried harder to stay in touch. She took advantage of your trusting nature, I didn't think she would steal you away across the world, but you're here now, you're home. There's no pressure for you to do anything. Sirius is dying to see you again, he's got a gig right now but he promised to come round as soon as he was done for the day."

"Thanks Moons, I needed to hear that and you can tell Pads im looking forward to seeing him too, but if it's alright with you i'm going to go pass out on the bed. Good night Moons."

"Night Prongs love you."

"I love you too"

Lily had never been very good at keeping on top of her life. She was one of those unorganised messes who only seemed to get by through phone reminders and friends.

When her phone started to ring beside her bed, waking her abruptly, she knew there was somewhere she was supposed to be. It was only when she looked at the screen and saw Sirius' picture, one of him kissing his boyfriend and sticking his finger up at the camera, she recalled the conversation about an earlier start.

"Oh, Fuck," She looked at the time, she was not too late, yet, she hoped, as she scrambled around her disaster of a bedroom looking for her sneakers, and rummaging through a basket of clean laundry for a sports bra and the required black fitted top, and leggings.

She hated rushing, she thought she had set an alarm but her sleep had been disturbed and perhaps she had slept through. She hated rushing but somehow she always was.

She was proud of how quickly she was out the door, within ten minutes of Sirius' unanswered call, even managing a lukewarm shower, or the pathetic excuse for one that was in their apartment.

As she ran along the sidewalk, weaving her way through the people who were always on the street, ignoring the shouts of the strange men hanging outside her building, and trying not to bump into anyone. She wondered if she should try to call Sirius and say she was on her way or at least text him.

New York streets were not the place to rush, and use your phone, not for her at least, not without falling on her face and risking a twisted ankle, or worse.

At least it wasn't too far to go, the dance studio was only two blocks away. It was a very large factor in why they had rented, the tiny overpriced and shabby apartment.

She thought in amusement, as she saw Sirius standing outside the building watching her approach, that at least the run meant she could skip her usual warm up, but it wasn't much comfort. She liked warming up, it always gave her the time she needed to focus her chaotic thoughts on the task at hand.

Sirius gave her a look as she continued at pace towards him, and she put her hand up to stall any admonishment he was thinking of giving.

"Alright, I know. Just don't fucking start okay?" He did nothing more than raise a perfect eyebrow, before flicking his cigarette away and following her inside.

The dance studio was already full, as she walked in with Sirius on her tail, the sound of the piano mixed in with the gentle chatting, this was her space, where she felt most at home.

Everything stopped as she appeared in the door, but it was all in her head she told herself. She ignored the hard stares and mutterings, as she sat down to change her shoes.

The Dance studio manager was a sour faced bitch who had never liked Lily, was always looking ways to make her life more difficult, but this morning she didn't even have to try, because Lily was doing a fine job of fucking everything up herself.

"Now that our star has decided to grace us with her presence, can everyone make sure they are ready to go once our choreographer gets here." Madame Pince's overly dramatic voice put Lily's teeth on edge, but she tried her best to block it out as Sirius started to stretch his limbs beside her and speak quietly.

"You're lucky the choreographer isn't here yet, or you'd be in big trouble." He snapped at her in a harsh whisper. "I know you need less prep than the rest of us mere mortals but even the amazing Lily Evans needs to arrive on fucking time." Lily tried her best not to roll her eyes at him, as she leant forward stretching out her back.

"Don't you fucking start with me, it's your fault I'm fucking late, you and that too hot boyfriend. I had to sleep with my earphones in you bastard. Why the fuck didn't you wake me?" She hissed right back at him. To his credit he did look a little embarrassed, but as always it didn't last long and soon enough his casual smile was back, as he tied his hair back.

"I thought you were staying over at that Jock with the big cock's place. Ours was so quiet when i got back with Remus I didn't think you were home." Lily did roll her eyes this time, she was more than a little tired of his little nicknames for anyone she even bothered to call a boyfriend.

"Obviously." She tried her best to keep her voice down but there was a snap in her voice as she replied to him. "His name was, and still is Mike. He decided to stick his disappointingly average dick in someone else, so I am not planning on seeing him again. No, I don't want to talk about it. Yes, the second all this is wrapped we'll be drinking, and yes you can take me out but, no, we are not going to flaming saddles."

She didn't need to see the smile to know it was there as he replied. "Whatever you say"

Lily was about to press her point more when her attention was drawn to the door. The supposed award winning choreographer breezed in as if he wasn't an hour late. Lily didn't know what to make of him at all. He was dressed in jeans for one thing, not the usual attire for someone who was supposed to be showing them through a complex dance routine. He looked quite young for someone so renowned, Lily guessed about mid thirties but probably younger. His close cropped dark hair showed no sign of grey but that didn't mean anything in this business, but his trendy five o'clock shadow also looked free from grey.

At least he had the frame of a dancer she thought to herself, she had stood in the presence of far too many choreographers, who if they ever were dancers had long ago let themselves give up on that dream, it had always made her wonder about herself if she ever stopped dancing.

"Good morning ladies and gentleman. For those who don't know me my name is Derek Wills," his clipped British accent addresses the room. "I am the choreographer and director, but I'm sure you already know that," he nodded his head graciously as if expecting applause but the room stayed silent and expectant. He clapped and rubbed his hands as if nothing was amiss.

"Okay then, I have a very limited amount of time to get this done, the filming space is set up downstairs. I expect you to learn this routine quickly, so we may get this done. This gets done quicker, we save money, you all get paid your bonus, and everybody goes home happy." He looks around the room. "Where are your principal dancers?"

Lily stepped forward making herself known and looked around wondering who they had got to replace Ben. Madam Pince approached Derek and nervously cleared her throat.

"Unfortunately, our Lead male has injured his back and is awaiting surgery. I thought you had received my email about that?" Derek sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose as if this news was the worst thing that had ever happened, Lily watched him as he seemed to pick Sirius out at random. Liy highly doubted there was anything this man did at random, there was an air of aloofness about him but that might just be something to do with his Britishness.

"You look strong enough to lift her. Let's see how you get on ." She smiled at Sirius as he stepped up beside her, his face was beaming right back until he faced forward adopting the professional mask of indifference.

The grin was wiped of both their faces as Derek stood in front of them, speaking in a quieter voice, but still loud enough to be heard by everyone in the room.

"I certainly hope you will decide to manage your weight better so you don't break any more dancers." He raised his voice again to carry to the back of the class, not that he needed to as everyone was gathered around listening closely. "Okay, everyone, starting positions please. I hope for your sakes you all prepared properly, i will not accept any excuses, you are professionals." Lily looked skyward and tried to put the continued insults behind her. Fighting back angry tears because how dare he say such things, when she had no choice, but to bite her tongue and accept his critique without complaint. She raised her arms as Sirius came to take his place standing a little behind her. His head was so close to hers that even though he said the words so very softly to her she heard clearly.

"When this is all done we are definitely going out drinking."

Because they were professionals, and because Derek was a complete prick nobody wanted to work with for a second longer than they had to, they did manage to wrap up early, so they ended up going to their usual bar, Frankies.

It was a bit bigger than some of the other hang outs on this block, it had a small space at the back where you could dance, if you wanted to, and the owner was an old friend from their first days in New York. Straight out of Ilvermorny dance school with high hopes of becoming superstar dancers, as if any of those existed.

The music was loud, but not so much that you couldn't have a conversation. The place was bustling, and Sirius was finding it increasingly difficult to keep tabs on Lily. She had drunk way more than her normal limit, and seemed to be attracting the sleaziest people who couldn't seem to keep their hands off her.

This normally would not bother him because Lily, most nights, was perfectly capable of fending off these idiots, but tonight it seemed she was set on making the worst kind of decisions.

When Sirius glared down another would be suitor, without any thanks from Lily, who rejoined their rowdy crowd of dancers, he spotted Remus making his way through the other patrons, his face and his mood warmed instantly.

They embraced tightly and Sirius didn't want to let his man go but knew he had to, if only so he can reach his lips. Remus kissed him back with as much passion as he did, when they finally did pull apart Sirius knew he was probably sporting the same excited smile that Remus had on his face.

"Hey, I've missed you." Remus told him, as if they had not spent most of last night together, and only said goodbye that morning. Remus looked about and tilted his head back towards the door. "Fancy getting outta here?" As tempting as his offer was, Sirius knew he had to turn him down. He pointed out Lily who was once again dancing inappropriately close to another of their dancers, who didn't really seem to know what to do with the attention.

"Love to babe, but I can't leave her, she's a fucking mess. The choreographer was a dick, he was tough on all of us, but he really laid into Lily. Told her she didn't have it anymore. I think we were all so happy we got the job finished early. If I go who is going to stop her from making all the wrong choices?" Remus looked at Lily and watched as she knocked back another shot while laughing and joking with the other dancers.

"Lily is an amazing dancer, and I'm sure it's not the first time she's been criticised. He was probably just being tough to get the best from her, I see it all the time. Your friends are there, she'll be fine." Sirius wondered which group of friends Remus was thinking of, because it certainly was not the group of selfish self centred people gathered at the bar today.

"I wouldn't trust that lot with my goldfish." He smiled, trying to show his very hot boyfriend that it was only due to his feelings of responsibility for Lily, that he was saying no. Because Sirius knew, if the tables were turned, and they had been on more than one occasion, she would be doing the same thing for him.

Remus pouted in a beautiful way, and slid his hands into the back pockets of Sirius' jeans. Sirius enjoyed the feel of being so close to him and allowed himself to be pulled in even closer. They were a similar height, if anything Remus was a fraction taller so he barely had to move as he brought his mouth to his ear.

"Well if you can't leave her, we will just have to take her home too. We can make sure she's okay and then…" Sirius closed his eyes and bit his lip at the suggestive things Remus spoke into his ear, his pulse quickened as Remus' hands pulled him even closer, if that was even possible, and started to kiss his neck sucking gently.

"Oh, Fucking hell Moons." He heard the rumbly, growly laugh that came up from deep in Remus' throat, and if anything it turned him on even more. It was at that point that Lily noticed Remus' arrival and the way they were holding each other in a display that was probably not overly appropriate for public viewing. She staggered over to them and Sirius knew she was doomed because of the way she was slurring her words.

"Oh hell no." she started, trying to give Sirius a stink eye glare but failing miserably at it. "No fucking way I am listening to you two fucking, another fucking night. What happened to the two of you staying at your place anyway?"

"Well we could but…" Remus started to reply to her, but halfway through her gaze wandered to someone, or something over by the bar.

"What?" Sirius was not sure if she was asking Remus or there was another reason, that only Drunk Lily knew, before she staggered off in the direction she was looking without waiting for an answer. He usually got on pretty well with Drunk Lily but right now she was being a massive inconvenience to his sex life.

"You know we can't stay at mine." Remus said softly so only Sirius heard. Reluctantly, Remus stepped back a little from their embrace, so he could watch Lily have a very serious discussion with one of the waiting staff, who thankfully, looked more amused than annoyed. Remus looked more thoughtful, and as often was the case, he wondered what his boyfriend was puzzling out. Even though he was more than certain that Remus was now in agreement with him he felt he needed to clarify further.

"I can't leave her on her own, look at the state of her! She never drinks and behaves like this, it's not Lilly and I really don't know what's up with her. Mary and Marlene are away on tour, and the rest of the dancers I wouldn't trust to look after a potted plant."

"Well, there is another option; he always likes to look after people, it might cheer him up." This was the idea that Remus had thought of? He considered it in his head for a while thinking of all the reason why they shouldn't.

"I doubt very much he will appreciate us dumping an extremely drunk girl in your apartment, and what if he's out?"

The flat stare that Remus shot back at that remark could have written essays. "You know as well as I do that he won't be out, not unless he went to the bodega, and he would definitely be back by now. And besides this is not just some random girl, this is Lily."

The girl in question staggered back to them and threw her arms around Sirius' neck almost as if she was coming in for a kiss. He felt her breasts press against him and he knew she was doing it just to make him squirm. Determinedly he ignored the uncomfortable contact and planted a kiss to her temple supporting her weight with his arms around her waist.

"What were you two whispering about?"

"Nothing sweetie." he smiled at her, "We just think it's time we got you home, and don't worry, you can stay at his place tonight, okay? I will take you for breakfast in the morning." She reached out to Remus so she could wrap her arms around him also.

"I love you two. Do you know that? I can't believe how fucking cute the pair of you are." Her face fell as she looked about the place. "How are we getting home?"

The moment Lily woke up she regretted it, her head was pounding and her mouth felt like she had tried to eat sand. As crappy as she felt, she could remember there wasn't anywhere she needed to be that day, and was just about to go back to sleep, when the light reflecting on the reading lamp caught her attention. I don't have a reading lamp?

As she slowly began to take in her unfamiliar surroundings, the smell of bacon hit her and her stomach wasn't sure exactly how to think about this. Placing her head back down to the pillow she groaned to herself in self pity. Cursing the complete idiot who had taken over her body last night and forced her to drink way too much tequila.

Then she heard it. A male voice was singing, not badly exactly, but he was never going to sell any records. It was coming from the living space below her. She couldn't make out the tune but he was definitely singing something dreadfully cheerful. She moved to step out of bed and realised she was only wearing her lacey shorts. Oh Fuck!

She had no recollection of the night before, beyond some vague memories of dancing with Sirius and knocking back a lot of booze. She absolutely did not remember picking up a guy and coming back to his place.

The apartment was a loft style so the bed she was lying on was on a mezzanine above the living space, creeping to the balcony edge she tried to sneak a peek at him, and hoped to god she would remember once she saw him. All she could see was a mop of raven black hair and bare shoulders, so it was impossible to make an impression of him.

She spotted the large mug of tea in his hand and realised he was approaching the stairs up to her, lying almost naked. Shit! In desperation she looked around for something to cover herself up with, she almost cried out when she spotted a dark t shirt at the bottom of the bed and slipped it on.

She was pleasantly surprised to find how good it smelled, not the freshly laundered soap smell, but a manly scent of aftershave and deodorant. Even in her hungover state she could appreciate how amazingly heady this combination was.

Before the mystery man's head appeared she scuttled back to the head of the bed and settled herself in what she hoped to look nonchalant. The first thing she saw was his raven hair that looked extremely ruffled, she wondered if that was her doing? As the rest of him walked up the stairs she took in his toned chest and broad shoulders, and how the band of his boxers was showing above the waistband of his charcoal sweatpants. She was very disappointed that she had no memory of this man, because hot damn was he smoking hot. He had a tattoo just below his left collar bone that looked like antlers, and a tribal design on his right arm. She resisted the urge to lick her lips at him. He was walking carefully up the stairs, looking down, his dark frames glasses just perched on the end of his nose, holding the mug of steaming hot liquid, he was watching his steps so he didn't immediately notice her which gave her the chance to smooth her features and try to remove the hungry look in her eyes.

He smiled at her when he finally looked up and saw she was awake, his smile was full of perfect white teeth, dimples, and sparkling eyes.

"Good morning beautiful." His voice was deep and rich, he spoke with an easy confidence.

She smiled back at him nervously, as he perched himself on the very end of the bed and extended his arm holding the mug to her. She took it and realised it was her preferred herbal tea. wondering at the coincidence, she closed her eyes and breathed in the steam, hoping it would work its usual magic on her. "Sorry if my clattering about in the kitchen woke you. How are you feeling?"

She grunted a response taking a sip of the hot liquid and he snorted a half laugh back.

"That good, eh?"

She didn't really know how to respond to him, her head was pounding and she desperately wanted to remember how she ended up in this insanely hot guys bed. She was more than a little embarrassed about it and he looked just about as nervous as she was. was she supposed to say something? To compliment him for their night together that she had no fucking memory of?

He ran his hands through his hair, and she wondered if he was always doing that, it would certainly explain his hair. He spotted she was now wearing presumably his shirt and he looked a little relieved.

"You found my tee then awesome. I'm sorry about your dress, I've put it in the laundry but I think it's ruined. D'you feel up to eating anything? I made waffles. You were pretty wasted last night." she took another sip of her tea to steady herself.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm meeting a friend." Sirius and her always went out for breakfast after a heavy night out, not that she had been doing much drinking lately.

Hangovers and dancing were not a good mix, and Lily had been too focused on getting her spot on the salaried dancers to jeopardise that. She knew they always went out for breakfast, but she also knew that Sirius was planning on picking her up. It was a very odd floating phrase in her memory that had no context, was he picking her up from here? From their flat, or where exactly?

"Oh good you remember that, Sirius wasn't sure that you would." She looked at him sceptically.

"My guard dog of a roommate let me come home with you?"

"He didn't let me take you home, he brought you here." If it was possible she was getting even more confused. He seemed to realise her confusion and slight discomfort at the situation, and laughed at her.

"Don't stress yourself out, Twinkle Toes, I slept on the couch."

"So, we didn't?" She felt in that instant like she wanted to either slap or snog that smirk off his gorgeous face.

"No."

"Did we even kiss?" He put his head to the side and shrugged as if he was trying to find the right way to explain what happened, but all she noticed was the way his muscles seemed to ripple as he made the gesture. She hid her face behind her mug again and hoped he didn't notice her obvious staring.

"Sorry to disappoint you but no. You did get a bit handsy, but I managed to resist your charms. You passed out not long after so I carried you here."

Lily felt the heat burning in her cheeks and put the mug down so she could hide her face in a pillow. "Oh god, I'm such a fucking nightmare." she peeked her head out just enough to look at him laughing at her. "Please leave me to die in shame."

"Scouts honor I will leave you alone, if that's what you want. I just need to grab my bag, I forgot to get it last night, that's why I'm only half dressed" He ran his fingers through his hair again as he stood up and walked over to the corner giving Lily a lovely view of his bum as he bent over to grab it.

"And here i was thinking you just liked to show off your body." She replied to him a bit later than was probably normal. She saw the slight boom of colour on the back of his neck and smiled inwardly.

The tea started to clear the fuzz from her head and she realised a few odd things.

Sirius brought her here. Fit guy slept on the couch. He kept his clothes in a suitcase when there was a set of drawers right there.

"Why's your stuff in a bag? You going someplace?"

"I've just left someplace, this isn't my apartment. I don't really have a place right now. Remus is letting me crash, while he's shacked up, for the most part, with Sirius. They brought you here so I could keep you safe. They were very concerned about you." Lily could not stop the bitter edge to the snort she gave in reply.

"Yeah, they were so concerned they fucked off to fuck each other."

"You have such a poetic turn of phrase." The tone he used was sarcastic but his little half smile was amused. When his eyes met hers it was very hard to pull away. They were fascinating and definitely sparkled with merriment as he looked at her.

She looked down embarrassed again and he went to move back down the stairs but before he took the first step he turned to her.

"Just so you know, I'd never take advantage of a drunk girl, even if she was begging me to, and looked as hot as you. Sirius and I are close as brothers; he knew you were safe with me. Please don't be embarrassed; you are cute and funny when you're drunk." She didn't miss the fact that he called her hot, or funny, or cute, but it was what he said about Sirius that caught her immediate attention.

"You know Sirius like a brother?"

"Yeah, we met in school." The fog lifted a little more from her brain and she remembered Sirius telling her about his old school buddy, who he never saw anymore because he moved across the world for a girl. Her eyes widen in surprise, because he didn't look at all like she had imagined Sirius and Remus' estranged writer friend to look like.

"So you're James," She said it like it was the final piece of a puzzle she had been trying to figure out.

"Guilty as charged." He nodded very slowly as if it was obvious.

"I thought you were in Cape Town with your beautiful model wife, writing incredible romance novels, and having mind-blowing sex?" The look on his face when she blurted this out at him was a little amusing, but also made her realise what she just said to a complete stranger.

"Who told you that?" His smile was trying to make it less awkward but the pink tinge in his cheeks told her she had overstepped. He was looking anywhere but her, and she cringed at her own stupidity.

"I'm so sorry my fucking mouth runs away with me when I'm hungover, but I heard it from Sirius. I mean who else would say such a thing? Sirius seemed to think it must have been the only reason a geek like you pulled a woman like your wife."

"Ex-wife." He corrected, his body language changed, like an invisible wall had just gone up, and she wished she had not mentioned her.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Sirius said you and him drifted apart. You look different from his pictures." She tried to make her voice sympathetic. He looked down at himself and shrugged like it didn't mean much to him.

"It's amazing what a personal trainer and a partner who demands you look your best at all times can do to motivate you." His face distorted as he thought about his ex-wife and Lily wondered about the type of woman who would let a man like this go.

"As for said ex-wife, I found out a lot of truths about her, found out what she'd been spending my money on. When we split she took half my money, and all my inspiration." He leaned back against the wall and sighed, the colour coming back to his cheeks more strongly this time. "As for the sex, well, I've never had any problems or complaints in that department, but I'm not one to kiss and tell." The smirk was back again. He made his way downstairs, but as he did he talked over his shoulder to her.

"I'm gonna shower. I made some waffles. They're on the counter if you're feeling up to it."

Lily allowed herself to grin, once he could no longer see her face, and she bit her lip thoughtfully. Recently separated, superfit, and he could cook, well at least he could cook waffles.

She slid herself off the bed and made her way downstairs where, sure enough, a large stack of waffles were sitting on a plate, with another plate of bacon sitting beside it. She ignored this and went to the fridge to see if Remus' health food kick extended to having juice, she was delighted to discover that it did and started to gulp down the sweet liquid straight from the carton.

She turned to the sound of keys turning in the lock and two male voices talking loudly and laughing. Remus was the first to enter and froze when he saw the glare Lily sent his way, when Sirius bumped into the back of him he spotted her and smiled lazily propping his head on Remus' shoulder.

"I hoped you'd be up honey, you ready to go eat?"

"And what, the fuck am I going to wear?"

"We'll figure something out." The wink he gave with that reply did not fill her with confidence.