Chapter 1
She lifted the baby's legs up by her ankles, and then wiped her red bum. A loud crashing sound came from the next room followed by giggling. She sighed and applied some lotion to the red patchy areas.
"Better?" She cooed as she gently lowered the chubby, little legs and clipped the cloth diaper shut. The redheaded girl pulled the baby up off the changing carriage, carefully supporting her little neck, and hugged her to her chest. "You know Angelica, you were properly named. Your brothers? Not so much."
She walked them into the parlor to survey the damage. A sofa was on its side and the tea table upside down.
"Christopher! Tristian!" Called the redhead as she walked into the kitchen and paused by the vacant dinner table. "Honestly, I leave you alone for four bloody min—"
Something soft dropped on top of her head and then slowly slid down to her shoulder. She looked up to the ceiling to see the marinara sauce dripping down. My fault, I guess, for serving spaghetti. Angelica reached for the noodles, but the caretaker swept them onto the floor before she could get her chubby little fingers around them.
"No, no sweetie," She said as she placed her into her high chair and poured some breakfast cereal onto her tray, "that pasta's no good. I made it, remember?"
She let out another sigh and marched off into the next room in order to find the two missing boys.
The children's parents returned at a quarter to one, releasing her of her faux maternal duties and allowing her to return to her own house. Once she arrived back in her living room she quickly collapsed onto the couch.
She closed her eyes for a moment, but was awakened by a loud banging at the door. She kept her eyes clamped shut and attempted to swallow her pounding heart.
"Who is it?" she called from the couch.
"Lily?" Came a man's voice from the other side of the door. "Lily, it's me Remus!"
She pushed herself up off of the couch and slowly moved towards the door. She carefully pressed her hands against the door and squinted at the figure through the door's peephole.
"Lily, are you there?" he called out again.
The tall man grasped on to the back of his neck with one of his hands and shoved the other hand into his pocket. She bit her lip in anticipation as the light caught his face: strong definition, larger nose, smaller mouth, thick eye brows, brown eyes, and dirty blond hair.
"Remus, hi," she said as she pulled the door open and stepped into the doorway. "I'm sorry did I know you were coming over?"
"No, I'm just popping in unannounced." He smiled sheepishly and gave a little shrug.
"At…" She glanced down at her watch and checked the time. "One in the morning?"
"I know it's late—"
"Early technically," she tried to smile; she could tell he was uncomfortable being there on her porch. "But it must be important for you to well never mind all that, come on in."
She stepped to the side allowing him to pass, but as he crossed the threshold a loud pop sounded in the living room as two more men appeared in the house.
They were around the same height as Remus, but the similarities in appearance stopped there. One, with dark hair and glasses, seemed to be supporting the other, who was limp under his arm.
"Alright then, Moonie, where should I put him?" asked the man with glasses as he glanced around the room.
"What the—Remus!" Exclaimed Lily as she smacked her friend on the arm. "What the hell?"
He flinched at the contact and shrunk back towards the wall. "I'm sorry! I didn't know where else to bring him! And James was supposed to give me five minutes!"
"How about a sobriety meeting?" She bit as she advanced towards the two.
"He's not drunk," explained James through gritted teeth, "but he is heavy! Where can I—"
"Outside." She retorted, crossing her arms.
"Lilyflower—"
"Don't you—"
"Lily, please let me explain," begged Remus as he strode over to them.
"I'm setting him on the couch," James grunted as he haphazardly placed his friend on the sofa Lily had just occupied herself.
"He's not drunk—"
"No!" she exclaimed as she ran over to the sofa. She looked down to see the sleeping boy, Sirius Black, lay on her couch. I am never going to be able to move him myself. Her frustration boiled over as she shoved James. "What kind of friend are you to let him get in this bad of shape and then not even care for him?"
"—he's been hexed."
She whipped around to find Remus standing right behind her. "By who?" She demanded.
"His parents." Growled James after he regained his balance and walked back to the sofa. "We don't know what they've done to him, but he's in bad shape."
She turned her eyes towards the sleeping body, and sighed as she kneeled down next to him on the floor. "Black? Can you hear me?" She waited a moment before placing her hand on his shoulder and shaking him lightly, "Sirius?"
She brushed his long, black bangs out of his face to see his eyebrows scrunched in pain. He let out a gurgling sound.
"We have to take him to hospital."
"We can't."
She glared up at James. "Why the hell not?"
He too, apparently, was loosing his patience. His voice rose as he spoke. "Cause if we take him there his parents will find him and lock him back up in that nut house of theirs!"
"Not to mention," added Remus, "we'll most likely be charged with kidnapping…"
"Kidnapping?" she looked between the two and groaned."So what you want me to heal him?"
"You're always going off about how you're going to be a Healer!" Shrugged James somewhat pathetically.
"Yes, going to be a Healer!" Sputtered Lily. "In the future—not now!"
"Well why not start now?"
"Because I haven't got the training that's why! I could screw up." She looked back down at Sirius and saw that his bangs had fallen in front of his face again.
"You're a perfectionist. It's impossible for you to screw up."
She narrowed her eyes as she looked back at him. "Your perception of me is incomprehensibly skewed."
"Lily, please," whispered Remus as he knelt down next to her. "We don't have anywhere else to go. You're the only one that can help us."
She turned towards her friend and smiled sadly. She knew he was right. James's mother was healer and could have fixed Sirius up easily had she not died of cancer two years earlier, and Lily would never admit it to either of them but she agreed that the hospital was too risky.
"My wand's on my nightstand."
Remus jumped to his feet and ran out of the room towards the back of the house. He'd only visited Lily's house once before, but it was small enough that he could remember exactly which rooms were where.
"Help me turn him," she said quietly as she stood and took Sirius's shoulders in her hands. James nodded and took his friends feet. Sirius groaned as they arranged him lying facing up. "So you have no idea what happened to him?"
James merely shook his head. "He sent a message, but it was cut off so Remus and I went straight over and his father was just… slicing him."
Lily noticed his ears turning red; something she had learned over the years meant he was too angry to be rational.
She nodded, attempting to take control of the situation she had some how landed herself in, and turned towards her new patient. "Right, well from the looks of it the cuts seem mostly superficial. Help me undress him."
As Lily began to unbutton his mangled shirt, James carefully slid Sirius's pants down to his ankles.
"Never thought I'd do this to a mate…" he mumbled to himself.
"Fifth year," replied Lily automatically.
"What?"
She glanced up to meet his gaze, but then returned her focus to the buttons. "Right before our O.W.L.s you pantsed him in the Great Hall."
"Right… you remember that?" He looked over at her curiously as he removed the pants from his friend's ankles and bunched the torn off clothe into a ball.
"I got an E on Ancient Runes."
He couldn't help but smirk. "Poor thing."
"Merlin" gasped Lily once the shirt was completely unbuttoned and his flesh was completely visible.
"I was only kidding—"
"No not that," she said cutting him off. "We have to take him to the hospital."
"But the Ministry—"
"Mustbe informed. James," she said desperately trying to explain the extremity of his friend's injuries. "He wasn't just hexed. His parents performed the Cruciatus curse on him." She met James's stare with watery eyes. "We have to report this—"
"We can't—"
"We must!"
"It's not what Sirius would want!"
"Since when do I ever care what he wants?"
"Got it!" Called Remus as he ran back into the room. "But it wasn't on your night stand or in your room at all for that matter."
She reached out for it, and he gently placed it in her hand.
"Why was it in the toilet?"
She simply rolled her eyes. "Petunia."
"There has to be something you can do for him," said James as he gripped the edge of the sofa tightly.
"Sure there is," said Remus with forced cheer. "This is Lily we're talking about. Right?"
She grimaced but turned back to Sirius. "There are some vials in the shed out back, up on the top shelf on the wall. I need them."
"I'm on it!" Remus spun on his heel and ran out of the room again. This time, however, he avoided the side corridor and went straight through the kitchen into the garden. It was dark out, but he could still make out the large shape of the garden shed. He pushed on the old wood door, but it didn't budge. He pulled out his wand and groped the paneling until he found a padlock.
"Alohamora," he whispered.
The lock clicked, allowing him to slip it off its metal slip and shove the door open, nearly knocking into something inside. He flicked his wand, sending light into the small room, and looked around. The old gardening shed had been completely refurbished. Three long tables stood parallel to each other and were all topped with bubbling cauldrons, tubes, and flasks. The walls were lined with shelves all carrying different plants. He carefully moved towards the back of the shed, but was struck on the arm by a drooping purple flower.
He let out a hissing sound as he grasped his arm, now streaked with boils. He pulled down his sleeve and quickened his pace. The back wall was lined with shelves as well, however no plants were kept on it. On the left side were rows of small vials, and on the right were an impressive number of books.
He scooped all of the top shelf's vials into his arms and ran back into the house, careful to avoid touching any more plants.
"I didn't know which—" He panted as he knelt down next to the sofa and carefully released the vials on the floor.
"Perfect," smiled Lily as she began to pick through the vials and squint at the labels.
James walked back into the room with a large ceramic bowl and a towel thrown over his shoulder. "Got the bowl and the towel. Now what?"
"Start washing him off while I work on his eyes," ordered Lily as she poured some liquid into her hand and began to work it into the skin around Sirius's eyes.
"But your couch—"
"Doesn't matter." She stated without looking up from her work."Just a couch."
James smiled down at her, but was prompted by Remus's coughing to clean off his friend's legs. With Lily giving the orders and James and Remus following them, the three continued to work on the unconscious Sirius's body well into the later morning.
Around nine, Lily and James sat back and watched a bandaged Sirius sleep peacefully.
Lily stretched her arms above her head and let out a large yawn. "He'll have some scars, but he should be fully functional… I hope."
"What are you nervous about? He looks good."
"Just wondering about the extent of the brain damage," she shrugged as she resettled and pulled her knees to her chest.
"How do you know there's damage?"
"The Cruciatus curse…" She yawned again and spoke more slowly. "If the person who casts it does it… thoroughly enough, then the brain can suffer permanent damage."
"What kind of damage?"
Lily shrugged. "Memory loss for starters—short and long term depending—a multitude of personality disorders, paralysis, blindness, speech imperatives—"
"Okay I got it."
Lily winced slightly, knowing she had done it again. "Did you message your father?" She turned her head to look at him. "James, you promised."
"I know, and I will."
"When? Do it now. The sooner you do it the better the case we'll have against them."
"We?" He raised an eyebrow and smiled at her.
She rolled her eyes and looked back towards the sofa. "Sirius. You know what I meant. It's been a long night."
James nodded, but didn't take his eyes off of her. "I'll tell him once he gets back. I don't want to distract him while he's working."
She merely nodded.
James stretched out his long legs and stared at his feet. "You were right last night by the way."
"That we should have taken him to the hospital? I know. Do you think he'll ever forgive me for ruining his abs?" She tilted her head to the side, trying to image what his body would like in a week or two without the bandages; however she hadn't meant to fill her mind with images of a naked Sirius and closed her eyes trying to clear her thoughts.
"No, when you questioned my ability to be a friend." She opened her eyes and turned towards James, hoping to see the answer to her confusion in his face. "I never should have let this happen to him. I should have done something."
"Don't do that," she whispered.
"Do what? Say the truth?" His eyes met hers, but she didn't break the contact.
"Do the should've would've game. Nothing good comes of it. You did everything you could—you did everything right last night. He called you and you came. You realized you couldn't heal him so you found someone who could. You were a good friend."
His eyebrows lowered and his nostrils flared. Lily sat back slightly, caught off guard by her inability to read his facial expressions. "I knew they were hurting him. He never said it out right but I could tell. I knew and I didn't do anything about it."
Pain. Painful guilt. It was a feeling Lily was familiar with. Sometimes over the summer she had thought it was her only friend. For a moment she stopped thinking. Her hand moved on its own and placed itself on to James's upper arm. "Then do something about it now."
"Tea is ready!" called Remus as he walked back into the room from the kitchen.
Lily instantly dropped her hand and smiled. "Brilliant."
Remus carefully lowered the tray he was carrying onto the floor and sat in front of the pair. Lily scooted forward and began to pour the tea into the three cups Remus had found in the cupboard. She handed Remus his first to help with the sudden coughing spasm he had started. Then she held one out to James, but he simply stared at her as if she weren't really there.
"Prongs," hissed Remus.
James blinked and then glanced at Remus, who nodded at the tea Lily was holding, and then blushed as he took it from Lily. "Thanks," he mumbled.
She merely nodded and held her cup close to her chest. "Pleasant holiday, Remus?"
"Yes," he said after blowing on the hot liquid, "Very pleasant. Most of it I've actually spent at Potter Manor with James and Sirius."
"You've all been living together?"
Remus nodded. "Dad's been sick, and Mum's been taking care of him so I didn't want to get in the way."
Lily nodded, although she could never imagine Remus Lupin being in anyone's way. "If Sirius was living with you, how did he… Well why was he with his parents?"
James shifted as he started at his cup. "He went back to speak with his brother. Things turned… bad."
Regulus, thought Lily. Recounting the few times she'd heard of him from Severus.
"How's Petunia?" asked Remus, attempting to change the subject to something lighter.
"Married," sighed Lily as she stirred in some extra sugar.
Remus began to choke on his tea, which forced James to smack him on the back several times.
"I'm fine!" he coughed as he swatted James away. "When did she… Who—How?"
Lily smiled, trying to figure out how to answer a question she still asked herself. Stick to the facts, she thought. "She married her boyfriend, Vernon Dursley, in the beginning of the summer. I was a bridesmaid."
James raised his eyebrow at Remus's toothy grin. "Are there any pictures?"
Suddenly the phone began to ring in the kitchen. Lily placed her cup back on the train and stood. "None that you're ever going to see."
"Oh come on!" he called after as she ran to the kitchen.
"Hi Mum!" they heard her exclaim in the kitchen. "No, it's not too early. I've been up for hours…"