Sirius shook as he walked along the cobbled streets of Godrics' Hollow. As the steady rainfall and his own fear blurred his eyes he was thankful that his feet already knew the way.
When arriving at the Potter's porch he paused and checked his watch. Three- twenty a.m.
Had it been any other day he would've left, waited until morning even though Prongs wouldn't mind. But it wasn't any other day, he looked up at the full moon and prayed Prongs would be home.
And so he knocked, but the door didn't reveal the face he had hopped for.
"Good morning Lily, I'm sorry for bothering you. Is James home yet?"
Had it been any other day Lily would've playfully scolded Sirius. (Shit Sirius! It's three in the bloody morning) and make him come back at a more reasonable hour unless James was there. But it wasn't any other day, and the look on his face told her that. Reluctantly Lily opened the door more.
"I'm sorry Sirius, James isn't here now. He's still with Remus. Please come in though, do you want to talk about it over tea?
"Tea? Sirius sputtered, "Is this bloody book club?"
"Yes tea," Lily answered, ignoring his question. "My mum always told me that tea helped calm your nerves." She continued.
"Lily, don't you think that something a little stronger would be more effective?" Sirius inquired with a small smile.
Lily continued to prepare his tea, before stubbornly opening the pantry and adding a shot of firewhiskey to it. "Bloody alcoholic." She muttered handing Sirius his 'tea' and sitting across from him at the Potters' round dinner table. After sitting she gave him a motion to go on.
"What's that for."? He asked.
"The tea?"
"No! The hand thing!"
Lily stared, dumbstruck. "It means tell me what happened, dumbarse!" she added with a small smile.
"Miss. Lily, I do believe my amazing vocabulary is finally making an impression on your innocent mind. How many is that? Two swears in one night? I never thought I'd see the day." He said.
"Stop avoiding the question Sirius, please tell me what happened." Lily pleaded.
Sirius began to weigh the pros and cons of telling Lily. It wasn't that he had anything against her; Lily was like a sister to him. He just wanted to talk to James.
As if hearing his thoughts Lily tried another tactic. "James won't be back until morning." She prompted.
This seemed to work as Sirius proceeded, however reluctantly, to open his mouth and explain what had happened.
"I was on an order mission, I had to find Voldemorts current hideout." He began. "Pretty soon some deatheaters caught up to me. I was lucky that they didn't recognize me at first; if they had I'd be dead.
A chill passed through both Lily and Sirius. He paused a moment before continuing again.
"I quickly cast a disillusionment charm on myself before casting hexes at them and calling for backup. Lils, there were at least ten of them, all wanting me dead. Reggie too."
The mention of Sirius' brother, had always reminded her of an extreme of the relationship she and Petunia hand, or lack thereof. Needless to say Lily quickly poured more firewhiskey into Sirius' 'tea'.
"Thanks, Lils. Can I ask you a question?" Sirius asked, quickly downing his glass.
"Sure, I might even have an answer" Lily replied with a half smile.
"Have ever told you that I love you?" Sirius asked. "We've always fought like brother and sister, but I can't remember ever telling you."
"I'm honestly not sure, Sirius, but I already knew. So what happened next?"
"Well, back up came and got the situation under control. It still scared me though." Sirius admitted.
A small 'Oh' escaped Lily's lips, followed by a yawn.
"Go on Lily, I'll wait for James on the couch."
Lily put the teacups and firewhiskey in the sink and slowly walked upstairs.
"Sirius, just remember that you're safe now." And with that she disappeared into her bedroom.
Sirius slowly limped to the couch and lied, waiting to tell James the truth of what had happened, not the glossed over version he had told Lily.