The long night had caught up to them, dawn sending shadows over the otherwise quiet street. The bike skidded to a halt, nearly jumping the curb, and it was only from experience that the boy riding pillion managed to keep his seat.

"Sirius Black!"

There wasn't much that could make the boys flinch, but the sound of McGonagall's voice, particularly after the night they had had, was one of those things. James swung himself off the back of the bike, doing his best not to look guilty.

"Morning Professor," Sirius answered, still astride the rumbling motorcycle. "Care for a ride?"

Her look of shock was well worth it, but she recovered quickly.

" I don't imagine that when you were told not to draw attention that this was quite what Mr. Moody had in mind!" she snapped at them both. She glanced at her watch and frowned. "Its quite the miracle the two of you have lived this long," and with a huff and one last look of derision she took off up the street, muttering under her breath about death wishes and young people.

"Damn good thing she still has a day job, or I 'xpect we'd never hear the end of it," Sirius said with a grin as he killed the engine.

They didn't bother staying quiet as they entered the house. By dawn headquarters was always bustling, the quiet, drawn exterior giving away nothing of the activity inside.

"Out of the way!" Marlene shouted before the door had even closed behind them, nearly taking their heads off with a floating cauldron full of something that smelled suspiciously of feet and unicorn dung. They chose not to ask.

One level down Frank and Alice were sparring in the practice room, with Peter and Mary looking on, Peter looking particularly overwhelmed as Alice took a shot to the face and still managed to flip Frank over her shoulder and pin him to the floor triumphantly.

They waved to their friends but didn't bother sticking around to watch. They hit another flight of stairs, and came out in the kitchen below, which was quieter than the floors above, but still occupied. Lily was sitting at the table in her nightshirt and a pair of sweatpants that James was quite certain were his own, nursing a cup of tea. Remus seemed to be cooking, but hadn't yet appeared to have burned anything, which was a miracle in itself.

James collapsed in the chair next to Lily, grinning at her. He snatched her tea and downed the rest, earning a disgruntled look.

"How was it then?" She asked suspiciously. "Don't know how you got anything done on that bike," she said, frowning at Sirius, "Everyone in London must have heard you arrive, it's a wonder Voldemort himself isn't on the doorstep."

The boys exchanged a look.

"Nothing exciting to report," James said with an easy shrug, practice from years of stretching the truth. Sirius said nothing. They were both too tired to share the details, hoping to avoid Madeye and the inevitable debrief until they had at least gotten an hour or two of sleep.

"What's he up to?" Sirius asked, nodding at Remus, who was humming to himself as he bustled around the dark kitchen.

Lily leaned her head on one hand, looking like she hadn't gotten much sleep herself. "Making breakfast I suppose. Said he's cooking bacon. I think he feels badly that he ate the lot of it raw yesterday," she said.

Sirius gave a bark of laughter. "That's my precious little werewolf," he said in a mocking tone.

"Shut it, or I eat you next," Remus snapped back easily. A flame shot up from the less than carefully attended skillet in front of him, and cursing loudly, Remus was enveloped in smoke, disappearing from view.

By the time he had managed to put out the fire and clear the smoke, and the others had managed to stop laughing, there was little left of breakfast but a few burnt crisps.

"S'all right," James told him, "I wanted biscuits in any case, get on that would you?". Remus made a face at him, tossed a loaf of bread onto the table and dropped into the chair next to Sirius. "Sorry, that's the best I can do," he told them, sounding less than apologetic.

"Told you we should have stopped for eggs," Sirius told James with a mocking shake of his head. "The service in this place…"

The door swung open and Frank stuck his head in, frowning.

"In case the two of you were thinking about sharing your escapades from last night at some point, I thought you'd like to know that obliviators have already tracked down the two…" He paused, thinking.

"Muggle aurors…." He continued uncertainly. " You two certainly did a number on them. Unfortunately there was no sign of the death eaters that were chasing you at the scene, I'm sure they're long gone by now, not much to be done about that."

"They're called policemen," Lily told Frank before James or Sirius could jump in to defend themselves.

"What?"

"They're not called muggle aurors, they're called policemen," she repeated patiently. His face had taken on a harassed expression. The sun had barely come up, but he had apparently already had a rather stressful morning. "Noted, but not really the point Lily…" he told her.

"Ya, sorry about that mate," James said, "Turns out the death eaters don't like it so much when you follow them around and spy on what they're doing. A bit touchy about it really."

"And the policemen weren't our fault," Sirius added, "They seemed to be quite nice fellows, they were just sticking their noses in where they didn't belong. Did us a favor to tell you the truth, the whole getting chased thing was getting a little old really, you'd think they'd have something better to do…"

James nodded seriously. Frank rubbed his hand over his face and through his hair, making it stand on end.

"You're giving me a headache," he told them. "Just be set to debrief when Moody gets here, and be ready to have your asses handed to you. The ministry hates dealing with our messes… If we're lucky they'll blame it all on the death eaters and put some effort in, but Moody's still not going to be happy about this…"

"Cause it wasn't very vigilant of us?" Sirius asked innocently, unable to help himself. Frank couldn't seem to conceal a half smile.

"Oh," he added as he turned to leave, "And retire the bike, unless you feel like getting killed next time you try to fly it," and with that he was gone.

Sirius groaned. "She was a good bike," he said in a longing tone, as though delivering a eulogy.

"Yes, yes she was," James agreed sympathetically, clapping his friend on the arm.

"So…" Lily's voice was silky smooth and suspicious, "Nothing exciting to report..?" she challenged.

James shrugged, avoiding eye contact. "Nah. Same old. You know how it is, those bastards have really got some temper," he said, grinning at her.

Lily rolled her eyes and tore a chunk off the abandoned loaf of bread. "It's going to be a long day," she muttered under her breath, toasting the bread on the end of her wand. "Pass the marmalade."