Hi! I don't have a beta so I apologize for any mistakes and I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters mentioned in this story (except the ones I made up)
It was a peaceful day in the quaint little town that lay in the West Midlands. The sun peaked through the winter clouds making the frost look like white glitter. Mrs. Thumbly was in her garden potting some new plants that she prayed would be resilient to the cold weather. Her tightly curled grey hair swayed in the light breeze. Mr. Brick was walking his creatively named Dalmatian, Spot down the path heading towards the local field. As he passed Mrs. Thumbly, he gave her a warm smile and they engaged in small talk for a few minutes. Still chattering away, they didn't see the blue car that turned the corner. However, as it got closer they heard it. Loud rock music blared from the car, then it didn't, then it did, then it didn't. The tiny blue car whizzed past them and Mr. Brick, who had slightly better hearing than the elderly female, heard the loud voice of a teenage female yell,
"I swear to God Sirius if you touch the radio one more time…" before the car vanished around another corner.
He turned back to Mrs. Thumbly who was shaking her head,
"Must be going to the McKinnon house." She declared as she pounded the dirt with a shovel.
Mr. Brick gave a nod of understanding, "That makes sense." They talked a bit more before Mr. Brick was pulled away by a bored Dalmatian.
The car was indeed heading towards the McKinnon household. When it had parked on the curb, a very frazzled Lily Evans stepped out of the car with a look on her face that meant she was extremely close to hexing a certain Gryffindor male. Wishing, not for the first time in the journey, that she hadn't insisted upon it being a real road trip meaning, no, they couldn't just floo there, they had to drive to get the full experience. 'They' meaning her who was the only one that had actually taken driving lessons. Following the annoyed red-head out of the car, this time from the passenger seat, was a rather happy looking Sirius Black. Green eyes narrowed at the boy who was bounding towards them.
"I thought I told you to stay in the car?" Lily said clenching her hand.
He raised a dark eyebrow as he stopped at her side making his shoulder length black hair bounce, "I know, I know but I was getting a numb leg so I thought I'd stretch it. Anyway, Evans, you said that I had to switch with Remus and get in the back with Peter and, while I am brilliant, I don't think I'd be able to manage that without stepping out of the car."
He gave her a smirk while she counted to ten in her head.
"Fine." The 7th year female said after she finished mentally counting down, "Tell everyone else to get out while I get Marlene."
After having a quick stretch herself, even with an expansion charm the car was still crowded, she walked up towards the house they were parked outside. A quick ding of the doorbell and she was greeted with two identical 7 year olds.
"Lily!" they both squealed before throwing themselves at her legs.
A grin finally appeared on the red-head's face,
"Hello Poppy, Rosie. How are you?"
The small brunette on her right, Poppy she thought, started babbling away about what they were going to do for Christmas, with the other twin adding parts here and there.
"Is that Lily girls?" A voice asked from within the house.
The twins confirmed that it was their sister's best friend with a cheerful shout of 'yes' and a few seconds later a taller, older version of the twins appeared at the doorway.
"Hello Mrs. McKinnon." Lily greeted politely. The woman whose dark brunette hair had speckles of grey in smiled warmly,
"Hello Lily." Mrs. McKinnon's eyes moved slightly to the left and she gave a small chuckle, "And hello to you Dorcas, Mary, Alice and you boys must be Remus, James, Sirius, Peter and Frank?"
Lily hadn't noticed her boyfriend and co step out of the car but, as she turned her head, she saw all 8 of them coming up the path toward the house.
"That's right Mrs. McKinnon." The tallest boy said as he adjusted a woollen hat over sandy blond hair, "I'm Remus. That's James, Sirius, Peter and Frank." He said with a smile as he pointed out each Gryffindor male.
"Well it's lovely to meet you all. I would let you in but Mr McKinnon is upstairs, asleep." The 4 girls gave a nod of understanding and the strained look on Mrs. McKinnon's face turned into a grateful smile.
"Marley's gone out." Poppy said out of the blue. Lily was startled slightly. The twins never stopped talking usually and in their silence she'd forgotten they were there. "Out?" Mary asked with a slightly confused grin on her face as she bent down and gave the twins a hug, "Where's she gone?" She continued.
"To get all you lot some coffee and yes Remus I know that you don't like coffee and, if you remember, neither do I, so we've got hot chocolate." It must have been comical to look at and, judging by the laugh Mrs. McKinnon let out, it was. The whole group of teenagers turned around at the same time to look at a teenage version of the twins and their mom holding multiple trays of beverages.
"Hi." Marlene greeted with a smile and raised eyebrow.
It took about 5 seconds for her to be surrounded by her friends all asking which coffee was for them.
"No James that has 3 sugars in."
"This isn't mine, it's too creamy."
"Ew. Black coffee."
"That one's mine!"
"Does that look like coffee to you? Plus Marlene's lipsticks already on it."
"Get in the car we'll sort it there!"
Only Remus stayed behind at the door. "If you give me Mar's stuff I'll load it in the car." He said. Mrs. McKinnon gave her thanks to the boy and went off in search of the case, leaving a set of twins at the door. "You're tall." A twin said and Remus gave a laugh, "Maybe you're just small?" He questioned bending down so he was their level. Both girls shook their head making their long hair cover their faces, "Nu-uh. Marley says that we're like giants!" Said the one who'd spoken earlier. "No." the other exclaimed like this was something she had to deal with regularly, "She said we sounded like giants."
"Only because it's true." Marlene grinned from behind Remus, "Lupin, your hot chocolate." Her tanned hand handed his slightly scarred one a hot takeaway cup. "Thank you." His lips upturned into a smile, "But I need to carry your case and I can hardly do that and hold the hot chocolate." Her blue eyes rolled and she handed him another cup, "I'll carry my case while you hold something more your weight." Marlene said gesturing to the cups. His blue eyes looked pained, "Please let me stay out of the car for a little bit longer. Lily's demanded that Sirius and I switch seats so I'm up in the front, which wouldn't be a problem if it was a normal car and only one person sat in the front passenger seat, so it'd just be Lily and I in the front, but the spell means two people can fit on the one seat with Lily on the other." Marlene winced and nodded, sympathetically, "Alright. I'm assuming Sirius was sitting next to James?" At his nod she winced, "That's going to be an uncomfortable journey to Wales for you. You'd think years of Lily hating James' guts they wouldn't be so …" She trailed off.
"Sickening?" He supplied with a roll of his eyes.
"Exactly."