With a sudden crack, Remus Lupin, looking pale and haggard, appeared in the middle of Sirius's disheveled living room.
"Moony!" Sirius exclaimed, moving over on the drooping couch to make room for him.
"How did it go?" James asked, smiling as Remus removed his cloak.
"Uh, as well as could be expected. They were quite upset at first. Said that as a werewolf, I shouldn't put myself in more danger than necessary, but when I explained how much joining the Order meant, they calmed down. When I told them Dumbledore was in charge, they were actually pleased, I think. You?" he asked James.
"Oh, you know my mum. She was thrilled, said she couldn't be more proud. My dad was happy too, though he's always hoped I'd be Minister of Magic and the Ministry and the Order don't always see eye to eye on everything…" James paused and looked pointedly at Sirius, "They were especially happy when I said Sirius was going to work for the Order as well. I've always thought they liked him more than their own son."
Sirius was looking rather grumpy, staring determinedly into the fire. Remus raised his eyebrows at James, "What's up?" he mouthed. James shrugged and gestured for him to be quiet.
"Really, they were awfully proud. I thought my dad was going to-"
"Would you stop rubbing it in my face that I haven't got proper parents?" Sirius exclaimed, wheeling around to glare at the pair of them.
"Hey, don't look at me!" Remus said, looking uncomfortable.
"I was only trying to help, mate," James said, nervously.
"Yeah? Well, it's not working," Sirius said bitterly.
"What happened?" Remus asked gently.
"I didn't tell them. I'm not stupid," Sirius said with a scoffing laugh, quite unlike his own. "I haven't talked to them for two years, and I'm not about to start now. I know what they'd say, anyway. My mother'd shriek about filthy blood traitors and not knowing where I owe my allegiance. My father wouldn't even say anything. He'd just try and curse me, but my mother wouldn't let him until she'd finish telling me how much better Regulus is,"
"You know that isn't true," Remus said.
"Yes it is. You don't know my parents, they-"
"No, about Regulus being better than you,"
"To them it is," Sirius said angrily. "Regulus is the perfect drooling, spoiled, little pureblood I'll never be. He's a complete idiot. He's power hungry. Did you know he's already a death eater? Not even sixteen and a death eater already."
"That's tough," James said sympathetically. Sirius had lived with the Potters during the first holiday after he'd left home. Recently he'd managed to find an apartment, which was where they were now. Sirius hardly ever talked about his family, least of all his brother.
"He doesn't even know what he's doing. The second he's asked to do more than sit around bragging about his ancestry he's going to regret joining Voldemort. It would probably be kinder if I just turned him in, but he doesn't deserve it, the scum… The… the worm…" Sirius went back to glaring sulkily at the fire, apparently unable to find the proper descriptive word for Regulus.
"Speaking of worms," James said, eager to change the subject, "Where's Wormtail?"
"Probably got off at the wrong grate," Sirius said grumpily, "He still hasn't passed his apparition test."
"What an idiot," James said in a loving voice, shaking his head pityingly.
"So, James, how was it with Lily?" Remus asked.
"Lily?" asked Sirius, sounding confused, "What about her?"
"Er… not exactly like I planned…"
"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked.
"Joining the Order puts your loved ones as well as you in danger," Remus said.
"So?"
"So… Lily is James's girlfriend and he loves her, so he's got to tell her about-"
"You told her about the Order?" Sirius asked, looking stricken.
"Sorry to break it to you, but you've got no tact whatsoever," James said.
A grin spread over Sirius's handsome face, "Yeah, but you all love me anyway… So, you didn't tell her about the Order, did you?"
Remus sighed in an exasperated way and James rolled his eyes, "Well I had to, didn't I? I couldn't just break it off without any reason,"
"You broke up with her?" Sirius exclaimed, looking utterly shocked.
"Sirius, he had to. Of course he did," Remus said as understanding began to dawn on Sirius's face. James however, was looking sheepish. "You did, didn't you?" Remus asked, slowly, searching James's worried expression.
"Well, I meant to. Really, I did,"
Sirius snorted, "I'm sure you put a ton of effort into it, too," he muttered.
Ignoring this remark, James continued, "It's just, well, you see, once I had explained to her about the Order… she said she wanted to…"
"Oh no," Remus said, "What did you do? Go on, tell us…"
"Well… I didn't… I don't know, it's like Dumbledore said, isn't it? He'd encourage brilliant young-"
"You encouraged her? You said she should join?"
"Well, why not? I mean, you heard what he said! The Order is pitifully low on members! Why not Lily?"
"I suppose…" Remus said, doubtfully.
"Come on, Moony! Lighten up! Lily's alright!" Sirius said, enthusiastic now that comprehension had fully come to him.
"I know, it's just… Dumbledore might not like it…"
"It'll be fine. I'm sure it will be," James said confidently.
"Yeah. You're probably right."
"Of course I am. Now have a drink," James said, passing Remus the bottle.
Suddenly a loud whirring noise filled the room. Sirius, who'd gotten up to get more glasses, leapt away from the fire which had turned emerald green. There was a hacking cough and a cloud of soot and Peter Pettigrew tumbled out onto the hearth.
"Sorry," he said, standing and brushing himself off with his ash covered hands, "I got off at the wrong grate…" Remus, Sirius, and James all burst into laughter, looking at Peter with pity and exasperation.
At last, as their gales of laughter died down Sirius looked indignantly at the grime a befuddled looking Peter had tracked onto his worn carpet. "Look what you've done now!" Sirius exclaimed in a good impression of rage. Poor, gullible, Peter didn't even think to question Sirius's apparent fury, although if he'd looked at the floor which was so grey the dust was barely visible and at the walls which sported greasy fingerprints and colorful stains, he might have thought twice about the irate state Sirius seemed to be in.
Peter cowered against the wall. "I'm sorry! I-" but the hem of his robes had caught fire and he leapt into the air, yelping and trying to stamp out the flames. At last Remus felt bad for him and put the fire out with a casual flick of his wand.
"Peter, I don't know what you'd do if Remus didn't take pity on you as often as he does," James said.
"I was kidding, mate. Ever heard of sarcasm? We can use a handy little thing called magic to clean that up. Though usually I wouldn't even bother. I'm not exactly the kind of person who has a huge problem with dirt."
"We really shouldn't take advantage of him. It's awfully mean," James laughed, passing Peter a mug, who was now smiling weakly and nursing his burnt leg.
"Ah, but it's so easy. And so entertaining. What can I do? I've lost my chief form of amusement now that Snivellus has gone off to work for Voldemort," The friends had almost gotten used to casually saying the name, all except Peter, of course, who let out a little squeak and dropped his drink.
"Oh no! Sorry!" he said, leaning over to collect the pieces of the shattered cup.
"Hey Peter?" Sirius said, recovering from another bout of laughter. "That thing I was telling you about? Magic? It can work for this, too."
